Israel’s Energy Minister Karine Elharrar has postponed the renewal of ICL Group Ltd.’s franchise to mine phosphates in the Negev Desert in southern Israel until the country’s Finance Ministry concludes an investigation into whether a subsidiary company, Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd., now called ICL Rotem, owes royalties to the state, according to a Times of Israel report.
A year ago, the Energy Ministry approved extending ICL’s franchise, which runs out at the end of 2021, for another three years, without a tender or conditions, according to the report. The approval came despite complaints by the country’s Environmental Protection Ministry about the pollution the phosphate mining allegedly causes.
A Finance Ministry spokesperson cited by the report said the probe into royalty payments relates to past payments made by Rotem Amfert to the state and will assess whether they were made in accordance with the company’s franchise agreement. The investigation is expected to be completed within the next two months, and depends on receipt of documents from the companies involved.
ICL declined to comment to TOI on the Energy Minister’s decision
Rotem Amfert was responsible for one of Israel’s worst environmental disasters in June 2017, when the wall of an evaporation pond collapsed, sending between 100,000 and 250,000 cubic meters of wastewater into the Ashalim stream (GM Dec. 8, 2017).
ICL was also involved in a long-running royalties dispute with the State of Israel regarding its Dead Sea Works (DSW) subsidiary, which begun in 2011 and was finally settled in April 2019 (GM May 3, 2019).