Dead Sea Works, today operated as ICL Dead Sea, is the mineral extraction plant at Sodom on the southern Dead Sea, and it has been drawing potash from these brines since 1930. The turquoise lagoon in front of the Ein Bokek hotel district is not the natural lake: it is Pond 5, the largest of the plant’s industrial evaporation ponds. Understanding Dead Sea Works explains most of what you see on the southern shore, from the geometric salt flats along Route 90 to the harvesting dredger working offshore.
What Is Dead Sea Works?
Dead Sea Works is the Israeli arm of ICL Group’s Dead Sea operations, extracting potash, bromine, magnesium, and salt from Dead Sea brine. ICL states that the site employs approximately 1,500 people directly and runs nine production plants around the southern basin, making it one of the region’s largest employers.
Potash, a potassium salt used mainly in fertilizer, is the flagship product. According to ICL’s published figures, the Dead Sea site produced approximately 3.7 million tonnes of potash, 190,000 tonnes of bromine, and 17,000 tonnes of cast magnesium in 2024.
Dead Sea Works at a Glance
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Operator | ICL Dead Sea (ICL Group), historically Dead Sea Works Ltd |
| Location | Sodom, southern Dead Sea basin, Israel |
| Founded | Concession granted 1929; first plant opened 1930 |
| Founder | Moshe Novomeysky, Palestine Potash Company |
| Main products | Potash, bromine, magnesium, industrial salts |
| Pond 5 area | Approximately 80 square kilometers (ICL) |
| Concession | Runs until 2030 under current terms |
| Public access | Moshe Novomeysky Visitor Center at Sodom, guided tours only |
From a 1929 Concession to a Global Mineral Company
Moshe Novomeysky was a Siberian-born mining engineer who began investigating the commercial potential of Dead Sea brines as early as 1911, then spent years lobbying in London for the mineral rights.
Dead Sea Works traces its origin to 1929, when the British Mandate government granted the Dead Sea mineral concession, according to ICL’s official company history. Moshe Novomeysky’s Palestine Potash Company opened its first plant on the northern shore in 1930 and began commercial potash and bromine sales in 1931.
A second site followed at Sodom in 1934, with a workers’ camp in one of the harshest inhabited places on Earth. The Times of Israel reports that at its peak the company’s minerals made up more than half of Mandatory Palestine’s exports. The northern plant was lost around the 1948 war, and operations consolidated at Sodom, where they remain.
The renamed Dead Sea Works was folded into Israel Chemicals Ltd (ICL), a government company established in 1968 that absorbed Dead Sea Works in 1975 and began privatizing in 1992. The current concession runs until 2030, a date driving ongoing negotiations between ICL and the Israeli government. The company’s story is a key chapter in the region’s historical timeline.
How the Evaporation Ponds Work
The extraction method is essentially a giant solar still. Brine is pumped from the northern basin into a chain of shallow artificial ponds, part of extraction and processing operations covering roughly 150 square kilometers of the southern basin, according to ICL. Intense desert sun, the same conditions covered in our Dead Sea weather guide, evaporates the water and concentrates the minerals.
Salts crystallize in sequence as concentration rises. Common salt settles first in Pond 5, then the enriched brine moves to smaller ponds where carnallite, the potash-bearing mineral, precipitates and is dredged for refining into fertilizer, bromine compounds, and magnesium metal. This is why the southern basin looks nothing like the northern lake: everything here is managed industrial water, laid out in the straight-edged cells visible on the Dead Sea region map.
What You See from the Ein Bokek Shoreline
The famous swimming lagoon at Ein Bokek beach is Pond 5 of Dead Sea Works. The water is genuine Dead Sea brine at 34.2 percent salinity, so the floating and the salt formations are exactly what the Dead Sea is known for. The difference is that the company controls the pond’s water level, which is why the hotel shoreline has stayed stable while the northern basin recedes.
That stability creates an engineering problem for the hotels of Ein Bokek and Neve Zohar.
Approximately 20 million tonnes of salt precipitate on the floor of Pond 5 every year, raising the pond bed by about 20 centimeters annually, according to ICL’s sustainability reporting. Left unmanaged, the rising water would eventually threaten the foundations of the Ein Bokek hotels lining the pond’s western shore.
The answer is the Salt Harvest project. Since November 2020, a purpose-built electric dredger, described by ICL as 141 meters long and the largest of its kind in the world, has scraped salt from the pond floor to hold the level steady. ICL budgeted about 280 million dollars over roughly 12 years, sharing costs 80/20 with the Israeli government. From the promenade you can often watch the dredger at work, an unusual backdrop for a spa vacation.
Can You Visit Dead Sea Works?
The production plants are closed industrial facilities, so you cannot tour the potash works themselves. The public gateway is the Moshe Novomeysky Visitor Center, an open-air heritage museum on the site of the original 1934 workers’ camp, the first time the site had opened to the public since the late 1940s, as reported by The Jerusalem Post.
The Moshe Novomeysky Visitor Center at Sodom opened in December 2021 at a reported cost of 50 million shekels, about 16 million dollars, according to The Times of Israel. Guided tours of the reconstructed 1930s workers’ camp, multimedia halls, and virtual reality experience last roughly 90 minutes.
Tours are guided and require advance booking, so reserve before you drive down. The center sits about 15 to 20 minutes south of Ein Bokek on Route 90, beneath Mount Sodom and its salt caves, which pair naturally with a visit. Bring water, sun protection, and closed shoes, and check tour times on the center’s official site before visiting. Full practical details are in our Novomeysky Visitor Center guide.
Dead Sea Works and the Falling Water Level
The Dead Sea’s surface is dropping by roughly 1.1 meters per year, and the causes are contested mainly in proportion. The dominant driver is decades of Jordan River diversion by Israel, Jordan, and Syria, covered in depth in our Dead Sea water level guide.
Industry is the second factor. The Times of Israel attributes around 25 centimeters of the annual decline, close to a quarter, to ICL’s evaporation operations. Critics named in that reporting include Knesset lawmaker Alon Tal, who called the company a “serial offender” over payments owed to the state, while Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry cited harmful emissions and extensive damage to the ground.
ICL presents a different accounting: of about 470 million cubic meters of brine pumped in 2024, it states 318 million cubic meters were returned to the northern basin, a net withdrawal near 160 million cubic meters that it says has stayed consistent for decades. Both sides agree the shrinking lake, with its sinkholes and retreating shores, is the region’s defining environmental issue.
Worth a Detour on Your Southern Dead Sea Trip
Dead Sea Works shapes nearly every hour you spend at the southern Dead Sea: the pond you float in, the stable beachfront, the white salt geometry below Route 90, and the jobs that keep the region inhabited. A 90 minute stop at the visitor center turns that industrial backdrop into one of the better history experiences among things to do at the Dead Sea.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can tourists visit the Dead Sea Works plant itself?
No. The potash, bromine, and magnesium plants at Sodom are active industrial facilities closed to the public. Visitors experience the story at the Moshe Novomeysky Visitor Center, an open-air museum on the original 1934 workers’ camp site about 15 to 20 minutes south of Ein Bokek. Tours are guided, last roughly 90 minutes, and require advance booking through the center’s official site.
Is the water at Ein Bokek really an industrial evaporation pond?
Yes. The Ein Bokek hotel lagoon is Pond 5 of Dead Sea Works, an evaporation pond of approximately 80 square kilometers according to ICL. The water is authentic Dead Sea brine at 34.2 percent salinity, so floating feels identical to the natural lake. Because the company manages the pond’s level, the hotel shoreline stays stable while the northern shore retreats.
What does Dead Sea Works produce?
The site extracts potash for fertilizer, bromine for flame retardants and industrial chemistry, magnesium metal, and industrial salts. ICL reports 2024 output of approximately 3.7 million tonnes of potash, 190,000 tonnes of bromine, and 17,000 tonnes of cast magnesium. The minerals crystallize naturally in solar evaporation ponds, and nine production plants around the southern basin then refine them for export worldwide.
Is Dead Sea Works responsible for the Dead Sea shrinking?
Partly, and the share is debated. The main cause of the roughly 1.1 meter annual drop is Jordan River diversion by Israel, Jordan, and Syria. The Times of Israel attributes about 25 centimeters per year, close to a quarter, to ICL’s evaporation ponds, while ICL states it returns roughly two thirds of the brine it pumps, a net withdrawal it says has stayed consistent for decades.
Sources
- ICL: Celebrating 100 Years of History and Innovation, ICL Group
- ICL Dead Sea: Sustainable Mineral Extraction That Powers Life, ICL Group
- Salt Harvesting, ICL Group Sustainability Report
- At Dead Sea museum, chemical firm evokes past pioneers as it bids to keep mining, The Times of Israel
- Historic Dead Sea landmark opens for first time since 1940s, The Jerusalem Post