SGS (Switzerland), the world's largest auditing corporation, has carried out a control inspection of the environmental protection management system of the company. In 2003, Uralkali was the first enterprise in Berezniki to be granted by SGS an ISO 14001 international certificate of conformity of the environmental protection management system. This time, the purpose of the audit was to make sure that the company's ecological management system continues to be effectively operated and improved.

The audit was conducted by the Russian representatives of SGS. They carried out a random analysis of the documentation and watched operation of several production facilities at the second and the third ore administration (BKRU) of the company. At BKRU-2 they inspected the silme storage, salt dump, purification works and flotation factory. At BKRU-3 they paid attention to the reagents section, drying section, hard wastes disposal area, ecological control laboratory and purification works. The auditors were satisfied with what they saw and issued a positive conclusion about the ecological management system of the company.

"Organization of the nature conservation activities at Uralkali is one of the best in Russia," says Ivan Senchenya who headed the auditors' team. "Here we saw not only an effectively operating ecological management system but also a considerable progress in the field of nature conservation. Discharges of pollutants into atmosphere do not exceed 20 - 30% of the allowed level and they steadily tend to decrease. The use of water recirculation has cut down water consumption. Useful yield from the ore has been substantially increased. All this is very important for careful utilization of the natural resources. In this way Uralkali shows its concern for the city, for the ecological situation in which the people live there. And I want to wish the company further successes in these praiseworthy and important activities."

Improvement of the ecological situation in Berezniki is one of the priority line of activity of the company. In 2003 alone it spent about 300 million rubles on the nature conservation activity. The largest nature conservation project of the year was construction of underground filling complexes. Mine voids were filled with halite waste and clay slime. This made it possible to reduce the volume of the surface waste dumps by 4.1 million tons. In 2003, the company continued the changeover of production to ecologically clean fuels. It gasified the boiler shop of BKRU-4 and the drying sections of BKRU-2 and BKRU-3, which reduced the discharge of pollutants into atmosphere by 40% compared with 2002. The volume of recycled and recirculated water supply has grown and, accordingly the discharge of waste waters in the rivers Zyryanka, Lenva and Bygel has been reduced.

"We are keen to create a healthy environment in the city where we and our children live," says Maxim Bakshinsky, General Director of Uralkali. "In the future, too, Uralkali will continue the search for and introduction of the technologies which minimize the impact of production on the environment."