Time Line
Dead Sea Works' history begins in the early 20th century with the first efforts to extract minerals from the Dead Sea in Israel's South. After Israel's independence in 1948, the extraction of minerals from the Dead Sea carried on with the establishment of Dead Sea Works Ltd. as a state-owned company in the early fifties.

Collecting potash at the Dead Sea - 1947

Historic Milestones

• 1819   Guy Lussac: 1st analysis of Dead Sea water 
• 1902   Hertzl's vision: "…the rich mineral water with bromine, sulfur and phosphoric compounds…"
• 1911   Novomeysky (Russian mine engineer) visits Palestine and realizes the potential of the Dead Sea for mineral extraction with the help of solar energy
• 1920   Novomeysky asks from the British Mandate the concession to extract minerals from the Dead Sea
• 1930   The Palestine Potash Company Ltd. is established. First plant at the north shore of the Dead Sea in Kalia
• 1932   Production of potash began
• 1934   Construction of the plant on the southern shore of the Dead Sea, in the Sdom area
• 1936   The plant became operational producing 80,000 tons of potash annually
• 1952   Dead Sea Works Ltd. is established as a state-owned company to extract potash and other minerals from the Dead Sea.
• 1966   The area of the evaporation ponds reaches 135 square km
• 1975   Potash production surpases 1 million ton per year
• 1980   DSW began building installations which apply the cold crystallization process
• 1986   Potash production surpases 2 million ton per year
• 1994   DSW power plant is constructed 
• 1998   DSW acquires ownership of the Spanish potash production facilities and a new company was established - Iberpotash S.A. 
• 1999   The Ofer Group purchased control of the Israel Corporation which controls ICL.
• 2001   Marketing Activities of DSW & Rotem Amfert Negev are unified - ICL Fertilizers is created 
• 2002   ICL Fertilizers acquires ownership of Cleveland Potash Limited, the potash production facilities in UK