Iberpotash is currently the only company to extract potash from underground deposits in Spain. With a production of 970,000 tons per year, the company exports up to 75% of the total ore that it mines, primarily to markets in the European Union, South America and Asia.
Iberpotash is the Catalan subsidiary of the Israeli multinational ICL, a leading global chemicals and fertilizer company that is currently creating over 1,200 jobs directly linked to mining activity in the mines of Súria and Sallent.
With the future launch of the Phoenix project, whose first phase is now in full swing with the construction of the access ramp to the future vacuum salt production plant in Súria, the company calculates that its activity will have an important multiplying effect in the region, with the beneficial impact reaching more than 6,500 people. For the present, the construction works alone are generating a daily movement of around 2,000 people.
From a broader perspective, mining industry figures indicate that there are more than 29,000 jobs in mining, 23,000 of which are directly linked to the extraction of materials from underground deposits on the 3,600 sites currently operating in Spain. According to mining production data from the Ministry of Industry, product sales from the sector exceeded EUR 3,425 million in 2010.