Salt Harvesting

At ICL Dead Sea Pond 5, in the southern part of the Dead Sea, about 20 million tonnes of salt precipitate each year, creating a layer of approximately 20 centimeters at the bottom of the pond. Pond 5 is used by ICL Dead Sea for its production processes and its western bank is the shoreline of the hotels located in the Dead Sea region. \

The Salt Harvesting project aims to provide a long-term solution with less environmental impact than other solutions, to the preservation of hotels, industries, and communities in the area, in accordance with the government’s decision. The solution lies in harvesting the salt that precipitates in Pond 5 and transferring it to the Northern Basin of the Dead Sea.

The ICL Dead Sea site production process requires maintaining a fixed volume of solutions (brines) in Pond 5. Minerals from the Dead Sea are extracted through solar evaporation, whereby salt precipitates into the bed of the salt ponds; the first in the line of evaporation ponds of ICL Dead Sea. The salt pond known as Pond 5 is the first and largest pond in a series of ponds, with a surface area of approximately 80 square kilometers. The evaporation process gives rise to the concentration of the brines and sinking of the salt to the floor of the pond. The remaining brines are rich in potash, magnesium, and bromides. Approximately 20 million tonnes of salt precipitate at the bottom of Pond 5 every year, creating a 20 cm layer of salt annually. The layers of salt are accumulated one on top of the other. The precipitation of salt reduces the amount of brine in the pond. The production process of the raw material requires that a fixed brine volume is maintained in the pond. Therefore, the pond level has been rising each year according to the rate at which its floor rises.

Approximately 20 million tonnes of salt precipitate at the bottom of Pond 5 every year, creating a 20 cm layer of salt annually.

If the water level in Pond 5 rises above a certain level, it may result in structural damage to the foundations of the hotel structures that are situated in proximity to the water’s edge, and to other infrastructure on the western shoreline. Therefore, it was decided to initiate a project to protect the hotels’ beaches and infrastructure. The project has been managed for the past few years by the (Government-owned) Dead Sea Preservation Company. As part of the coastline defenses project, and as a temporary solution, dikes and other coastline defenses were constructed on the western beach of the pond, near the hotels.

However, to provide a permanent solution to the rising water level in the pond, a Salt Harvesting Project was agreed upon with the Israeli government. This solution requires ICL Dead Sea to annually harvest approximately 20 million tonnes of salt from Pond 5 and transfer the salt to the Northern Basin of the Dead Sea, thereby stabilizing the water level.

At the core of the Salt Harvesting Project are salt dredgers, responsible for dredging the salt that precipitates at the bottom of the 80 square kilometer Pond 5. In October 2017, ICL signed an agreement with Holland Shallow Seas Dredging Ltd., to conduct the Salt Harvesting Project. In November 2020, after years of planning and construction, the operation of the first dredger began. The dredger, which was designed and created especially for the project, is continuously operated by dozens of workers who were recruited for the operation. It dredges an annual amount of about 8 million tonnes of salt from the bottom of the Southern Basin. It is the first one in a series of 2 to 3 dredgers that together will dredge about 20 million tonnes of salt annually, from the bottom of Pond 5.

The dredger is a marine excavator, 141 meters long and 24 meters wide. It is the largest electric dredger of its kind in the world, with an electrical power output of 10 MW. When designing the dredger, the needs of tourism in the area were considered, including the need to prevent noise while working near hotels. The dredger does not require diesel fuel for its operation, and therefore minimizes the risk of water pollution due to fuel leaks.

In the first stage, the harvested salt is stored in salt piles that are located on the eastern side of the pond, to minimize visibility. In the second stage, the salt will be transferred to the Northern Basin of the Dead Sea.

Recently a Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued for the planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of the salt transport array to the Northern Basin of the Dead Sea.

The agreed solution enables further development in the Dead Sea region. New hotels are now being planned, and the town of Neve Zohar (also adjacent to Pond 5) is planning to expand. Both developments have been made possible due to the stabilization of the water level in the pond, which will be the outcome of the salt harvesting project.

ICL will bear 80% of the cost of the Salt Harvest and the Israeli government will bear 20% of the cost.

In 2017 ICL’s Board of Directors approved a budget of about $280 million to conduct the Salt Harvesting project. This budget will be spent over the next 12 years and constitutes ICL’s 80% share of the cost of operating the first dredger.

ICL’s Board of Directors approved a budget of approx. $280 million to conduct the Salt Harvesting project in the Dead Sea.

For more information about the coastline defenses and the permanent solution, see Item 4 – Information on the Company— D. Property, Plant and Equipment— Dead Sea Works in ICL’s 2022 Annual Report.

Salt Harvesting

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