Planet under Pressure

THE K+S BRINE CHALLENGE:
APPROACH TO CREATE
SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS
Minimizing the impact on nature of activities associated with the extraction and processing of
raw materials is a group-wide goal at K+S. We act by reducing the piling of solid waste from
potash mining and the related formation of brine solution. Our long history of developing
solutions to deal with the formation of brine solution from potash tailings piles has made us an
expert in this field. By combining our expertise with an innovative crowdsourcing initiative, K+S
collaborated with the public and searched for new approaches. We called this initiative the K+S
Brine Challenge.
By Dr. Arne Schmeisky and Janina Beduhn, K+S
By using modern technology and crowd
intelligence, new approaches and better
solutions for overcoming different problems
can be found. In the case of the “K+S
Brine Challenge,” it was all about finding
ways to address inevitable tailings from
mining potash. In line with Sustainable
Development Goal 17 (“Strengthen the
means of implementation and revitalize
the global partnership for sustainable
development”), people from all over the
world took part in a contest to find solutions
to protect bodies of water. The approach
led to a more innovative way of
working together and used the “wisdom of
many” to improve K+S’s tailings covering
systems. K+S offered global partnerships
to improve the impact on bodies of water
and ensure a transfer of knowledge
between multiple stakeholders.
Reducing the impact on water caused
by potash mining
Mining is known to have a high impact
on water by either consuming a lot of
water or by using bodies of water to
discharge wastewater. Potash mining is
no exception concerning water consumption,
since all potash mining companies
have to cope with solid and liquid tailings
that accumulate during mining and
production processes. The best available
technique to dispose of large amounts
of solid tailings in the potash mining
sector is to dump it onto tailings piles,
which consist mainly of sodium chloride.
Since these tailings are out in the open,
rainfall, combined with the salt tailings,
results in a brine solution that needs
to be disposed of. This brine solution,
together with other liquid wastes from
production processes, is usually disposed
of in one of two different ways, through
deep-well injections or discharged into
surface waters such as rivers and oceans.
Depending on the size of the river and
the amount of wastewater that needs to
be disposed of, this technique might affect
the total concentration of salt within
the river. To keep the effect on aquatic
life as well as the ecosystem of the river
to a minimum, K+S is developing new
techniques to minimize the buildup
of wastewater during the production
processes as well as at the sites of the
tailings piles.
To make a measurable contribution toward
achieving the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), K+S wants to keep the
amount of its solid residue from potash
mining to a minimum and further limit
the formation of salt water by covering
the tailings. We promote the efficient
use of natural resources and the avoidance
of waste (Targets 12.2 and 12.5), as
well as the sustainable use of land and
inland freshwater ecosystems (Target
15.1). We have also set ourselves the
following targets:
• From 2030 onward, it will be possible
for up to 3 million metric tons of residues
to be used for purposes other than
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Global Goals Yearbook 2020