K+S Aktiengesellschaft

Hazardous waste has been stored in part of the Wintershall potash mine in the Werra region of eastern Hesse/Germany since 1972. The Herfa-Neurode underground waste disposal site, which today belongs to the K+S Werra Verbundwerk, is the longest-serving and largest of its kind in the world, setting standards in safe storage to this day (Figure 1). Now, the 50th anniversary of the landfill was celebrated with a festive colloquium, which brought together representatives of the German waste management industry.

About 100 guests met in the Friedewald festival hall to exchange views on developments in the landfilling and reutilisation of waste. To the sounds of the K+S miners’ band Wintershall, Friedewald’s mayor Julian Kempka welcomed the visitors as host. His colleague from Heringen, Daniel Iliev, on whose municipal territory the underground storage site is located, emphasised the good, transparent cooperation between the city and the company. He said this was indispensable, especially in the sensitive but also important dumping of hazardous waste: “I am glad that we are working together here to ensure that the remains of our affluent society are safely stored,” said Iliev.

The head of the K+S Werra plant, Martin Ebeling, also declared: “We are putting a lot of effort and expertise into ensuring that safety prevails and quality requirements are met. This is a prerequisite for the 50-year success story of the Herfa-Neurode underground waste disposal site and the acceptance in our region that is necessary for it.” In this way, K+S and the REKS joint venture, which is managed together with REMEX, can make an important contribution to waste disposal safety in Germany as a sales partner, REKS managing director Martin Brown also emphasised: “Hazardous waste is produced in society and industry. These substances are in the world and must be stored in a safe place.” This is exactly what is possible in Herfa-Neurode due to the special geological conditions, he said.

All speakers at the colloquium emphasised the safety aspect in their contributions: With a total of four Class 4 underground landfills, in which hazardous waste is stored for which there is no other use, Germany has a special disposal option that is the envy of many countries. In the underground disposal sites in the salt rock, the waste is kept away from the environment for a long time and without aftercare – and this has been happening for decades without incident.

Arnd Schneider, head of the Herfa-Neurode underground waste disposal site, explained that in addition to the geological conditions with a water- and gas-tight salt deposit, this also requires a complex safety system with several artificial barriers and intensive control of the waste. Every four years, he said, the long-term safety record is reviewed, for which up to 100,000 years into the future are looked at. Since the first tonne of waste salts from an oil refinery was deposited in Herfa-Neurode on 4th September 1972, more than 3.5 Mt of hazardous waste have been safely disposed of so far. And the landfill still offers enough space to continue storage for several decades.

Other well-wishers included Sandra Giern (Federal Association of the German Waste Management, Water and Recycling Industry), Thomas Kießling (ERCOSPLAN Ingenieurgesellschaft Geotechnik und Bergbau), Carsten Spohn (Interessen­gemeinschaft der Thermischen Abfallbehandlungsanlagen in Deutschland), Andreas Ellerkmann (Indaver Deutsch­land), Torsten Zuber (REKS) and Dirk Röth (BAUREKA Baustoff-Recycling). In their speeches, they addressed various aspects of waste disposal, recycling management and landfilling. And they unanimously wished the birthday child, the Herfa-Neurode underground landfill, 50 more years of successful and safe operation in the disposal of hazardous waste. (K+S/Si.)

At the request of the company, Fabiola Fernandez Grund, who had already been appointed as a further member of the Executive Board at K+S Aktiengesellschaft, Kassel/Germany, last December, will not be taking up her position at the start of next year. In reaching this decision, the Supervisory Board followed the process of redimensioning the management team at K+S and will no longer be pursuing the originally planned new additions to the Executive Board until further notice.

Former Financial Director Burkhard Lohr succeeded Norbert Steiner as Chairman of the Executive Board of K + S AG, Kassel/Germany, on 12th May 2017. Thorsten Becker, who used to manage the Investor Relations department, has taken on Lohr’s previous role. At the head of the K + S Supervisory Board, former BASF Chairman Andreas Krei-meyer replaced the long-standing Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Ralf Bethge, on 10th May 2017.

The Supervisory Board of K+S Aktiengesellschaft, Kassel/Germany, has invited Otto Lose to join the company’s Board of Management for the Potash and Magnesium Products division as of 1st January 2017.

In mid-September 2016, the first cars for the future transport of potash from the new Legacy site to Vancouver harbour were handed over to K+S Potash Canada (KSPC) by the Canadian manufacturer, National Steel Car (NSC). The cars, specially designed for KSPC, are shorter than conventional freight cars but have the same capacity – around 105 t – meaning more cars can be used per freight train (Figure 6). Thanks to a special opening mechanism, the cars can be loaded while in motion. KSPC has placed an initial order of more than 500 freight cars from NSC and the fleet of cars is due to be expanded at a later stage as production increases.

Each freight train will consist of 177 of these cars and have a total length of roughly 3 km. The freight trains will be used to transport the potash to be produced at the Legacy site out of Saskatchewan province and over the Rocky Mountains to Port Moody in Vancouver harbour, some 1,800 km away. Here, KSPC and its partner PCT are currently building the most cutting-edge potash terminal in the world, where potash products will be loaded onto ships and transported to customers. Some of the car fleet will also be used to transport products to the USA. (K+S/Si.)

In its meeting on 24th August 2016, the Supervisory Board of K + S Aktiengesellschaft, Kassel/Germany, appointed Dr. Burk-hard Lohr future Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the company. Currently Chief Financial Officer of K + S, Lohr is due to take over from Norbert Steiner when he retires on 12th May 2017. The Super-visory Board is due to appoint additional members of the Executive Board – Chief Financial Officer, Director of the Potash and Magnesium Products business unit – in the near future.

The 13th Mining Forum took place on 18th and 19th June 2015 in the Kongress Palais, Kassel. Almost 250 specialists and decision-makers from the coal mining, raw materials and energy sectors gathered together to discuss current issues in industry and research.

Presentations on a mixture of classical and pioneering subjects, given by international speakers proved, as did the exhibition, that this year‘s Mining Forum was once again a platform for exchanging information in these sectors. Organised by DMT GmbH & Co. KG, Essen, in cooperation with K+S Aktiengesellschaft, Kassel, and TSU e. V (Association for technical safety and environmental protection), Gotha, the number of attendees was evidence of widespread acceptance of the event: „We are very happy with the event this year,“ explains Prof. Dr. Günther Apel, Director of the Mining Consulting & Engineering division at DMT.

DMT has organised the Mining Forum at different locations every other year since 1991. For the first time, this year‘s event had a very international focus: „We received exceptionally positive feedback for the presentations given in English,“ says Apel. „That boosts our efforts to ensure the attraction and exclusivity of the Mining Forum in the medium term.“

Visually, the focal point of the conference was the integrated trade exhibition: In addition to exhibiting products and services from different companies, it provided an opportunity to make new contacts or talk with speakers and sponsors in a relaxed atmosphere.

Jens Peter Lux, Director of the DMT Geo Engineering & Exploration division and his team, who were responsible for organising and running the event, are already looking forward to the next Mining Forum in 2017: „Our concept for the conference was to emphasise the exchange of expertise between attendees. We are very pleased that it has established itself as a conference known for having expert speakers.“ (DMT/Si)