Mines de Súria

Barcelona | Spain

The potash mines in Súria (jointly exploited with those of Sallent and Balsareny), have caused the salinisation of the Cardener and Llobregat rivers, also affecting wells, springs and aquifers throughout the Bages region, which has led to a number of legal proceedings for environmental crimes.

Project factsheet

Status	Operational underground mine
Concession	Generalitat de Catalunya 1761, 1783, 1800, 1889, 1895, 1896, 1908, 1912, 1916, 1919, etc.
The Súria potash mines are currently being exploited at a depth of 900 metres producing approximately 1 million tonnes per year. The mine waste facility is expanding by a rate of 0,7 million tonnes per year.
Minerals	NACL MIN
This is a potash mine, which mainly extracts carnallite, sylvite and halite.

Proprietaries

Company	Origin	Start	End
René Macary & Emilio Viader	France	1909	1920
Minas de Potasa de Súria, S.A.	Spain	1920	1982
Solvay S.A.	Belgium	1920	1982
Instituto Nacional de Industria / SEPI	Spain	1982	1998
Súria K, S.A.	Spain	1982	1998
ICL Israel Chemicals Ltd.	Israel	1998
Iberpotash, S.A.	Spain	1998

Mine processing plant and waste piles Plataforma Cívica Montsalat

Environmental infringements

River/stream pollution Groundwater pollution Agriculture/fishery Water use / availability Mismanaged mine waste facility (MWF) Absence of restoration Public health impacts

Potash mining has created massive waste piles (known as 'runams' in Catalan), mostly made up of sodium chloride (83%), which leaches due to rainwater and moist at a rate of approximately 1,000 tonnes per day of polluting brine. The part of this brine that, after filtering into the groundwater, is not captured and conveyed to the Mediterranean through the brine collector, salinises springs, streams, wells and rivers in the Llobregat basin.

In Súria, the El Fustaret mining waste facility occupies 27 hectares with over 22 million tonnes of waste. Salinisation has forced the water supply companies to incorporate reverse osmosis systems to reduce the salt content of the water in their two large water treatment plants supplying the Barcelona metropolitan area, at an additional cost of 3 million euros per year. Frequent accidental brine spills from the Llobregat basin collector, which currently collects and discharges most of the brine from the mining industry into the sea, have caused extensive damage to riverside habitats.

Iberpotash was condemned in 2015 for discharges of saline water from waste dumps, which affected and continue to affect streams, agricultural lands and the water supply of of Barcelona's metropolitan area. The judgement sentenced the mine managers to 2 years in prison, established financial reparations for the affected communities and obliged them to repair the 'ecological disaster they had caused'.

El Fusteret mine waste facility at Súria

Permitting, impact assessment and restoration

Illegal permitting/operation Lack of (transboundary) EIA Inadequate restoration plan Lack of financial guarantees Administrative neglect Corruption regarding administrative misconduct

In 2006, the environmental authorisation for the Súria mining project and its restoration plan were approved, establishing an environmental guarantee of just 773,682 euros. In 2015, the guarantee was increased to 6 million euros after the European Commission initiated an infringement procedure against Spain for alleged non-compliance with Directive 2006/21/EC on the management of waste from extractive industries regarding the Iberpotash waste facilities. The European Commission determined the 'clear insufficiency' of the guarantee initially imposed, a position confirmed by the General Court of the European Union in a ruling in 2020.

In 2014, the project to expand the potash mine in Súria was authorised, with a favourable EIS being granted, and in 2018 an Urban Development Plan for mining activity in the Bages region was approved. In the same year, the restoration plans for the Súria and Sallent mines were modified, giving the companies 75 years to eliminate the waste deposits, without preventing the accumulation of more waste in the meantime. In 2022, the Plan was modified to allow the Súria waste dump to be expanded in hight, but this is still pending approval.

In 2022 the Court of Manresa considered that the environmental restoration plan presented by the company to comply with the 2014 sentence convicting it for environmental crimes was insufficient.

Civil rights and corporate counterinsurgency

Social engineering

The mining company finances various social entities and cultural events in the Bages region, as well as sponsoring sports teams. It has also promoted the establishment of the Fundació Cardona Històrica that manages the 'Salt Mountain Cultural Park', opened in 2003 to generate a positive vision of mining. In 2007 it also supported the creation of the Iberpotash Chair in Sustainable Mining at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. A Social Platform in Support of Mining and Industrial Activity in Central Catalonia (ProMineria) was created to support the mining project.

Working conditions and labour rights

Poor working conditions

Trade unions have denounced and striked against poor working conditions that have often lead to accidents, including fatal ones.

Public funding

EU funding National funding

The European Commission and the General Court of the EU sanctioned Spain and Iberpotash for the illegal acquisition of public funds granted by the State and the Generalitat de Catalunya. The General Court ratified that 'the company did not assume the costs of environmental protection that other competitors in the mining sector assume in the EU', which represented a 'favourable treatment compared to its competitors', and condemned the company to repay more than 5.8 million euros. Despite this, the Commission itself allowed Iberpotash to coordinate the 6.7 million euro HERMES project (2015-18). Previously, in 2009, it received €10.8 million from the European Investment Bank for its Súria plant. Iberpotash continues to receive millions of euros each year from the indirect CO2 emission cost offsetting mechanism.

Use of complaint mechanisms

Administrative complaint(s) International remedies Criminal proceedings

In 1997 a police investigation was initiated as a result of complaints from civic and environmental organisations, resulting in a long criminal trial that concluded with convictions by the Manresa Court in 2014 and confirmatory sentences by the Barcelona Provincial Court in 2015. In parallel, there were several criminal proceedings against officials and senior officials for alleged crimes of environmental and urban planning prevarication, both from the Catalan Government and Súria town council.

The civic movements also filed complaints with the European Commission and the Catalan Ombudsman, as well as filing dozens of judicial and administrative appeals and allegations in relation to succesive plans and projects.

Last update: 14.1.2023