Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) (ICL) continues to expand overseas. A day after announcing the discovery of reserves of mineral salt polyhalite by its UK unit, and two days after reporting the acquisition of Spanish fertilizers company Fuentes, this evening, the company announced the first stage of an efficiency plan for Iberpotash, ICL Fertilizers' business unit in Spain. The plan calls for investment of €160 million in expansion of Iberpotash's mine and processing facility at Cabanasas and Suria, near Barcelona, and the phasing out of operations at another Iberpotash mine and processing facility. The goal of the efficiency plan is to lower the cost of Iberpotash's mining operations, increase its production of potash and salt products and improve its environmental footprint.
The second stage of the plan, which has not yet been approved, calls for an additional expansion of Suria's potash manufacturing capacity, with the goal of producing 1.1 million tons of potash, of which 630,000 tons will be granulated potash and 50,000 tons of technical potash, as well as 1.5 million tons of salt.
ICL said that it expected the execution of the plan to generate significant savings and efficiencies of scale due to the fact that larger quantities of potash and salt will be mined and processed in a single location, as opposed to today's mining and processing in two locations.
"ICL's decision to upgrade its operations in Spain is a further illustration of ICL's strategy to expand its operations worldwide, including our potash mining operations in Spain and England," said ICL Fertilizers Europe president Kees Langeveld, "The efficiency plan will increase our production of potash in Spain, reduce our manufacturing costs and allow us to enter the quality salt market."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 13, 2011
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