FRANKFURT, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Offices at German potash miner
K+S SDFGn.DE were raided by state prosecutors on Wednesday as
part of an investigation into illegal discharge of waste water
from processing potash, German police said on Wednesday.
K+S, which is fighting takeover proposal by larger Canadian
rival Potash Corp POT.TO , is suspected of illegal disposal of
saltwater between 1999 and 2007, the criminal police of German
regional state Thuringia said in a statement.
Some K+S subsidiaries and employees as well as the state's
mining authority were subject to the probe, it added.
The saltwater emerges from the production of fertiliser from
potash ore that K+S extracts from mines. The group has for years
been embroiled in a dispute with environmental groups and local
municipalities about the waste water discharge into the Werra
river and into porous layers of rock.
A K+S spokesman said the company had approval from state
mining authorities for the waste water disposal during the time
in question and that K+S was fully cooperating with the
investigators.