The Maxam-Tam factory in Mazingarbe, in Pas-de-Calais.

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The factory employs 73 people in Mazingarbe, in Pas-de-Calais.

The Maxam-Tan ammonia processing site was placed on Wednesday in compulsory liquidation with an extension of activity for three months, we learned from staff representatives and the Lille commercial court.

Subsidiary of the Spanish group Maxam, controlled by the American investment fund Rhône Capital, the company classified Seveso "high threshold" and whose products enter into the composition of civil explosives and fertilizers, had been in receivership since 26 October.

Empty a 1,000-tonne ammonia tank

The three-month period should make it possible to empty a tank where around 1,000 tonnes of ammonia, a toxic material are stored, which "engages the safety of several tens of thousands of people from the surrounding towns", according to the prefect of Pas-de-Calais. Louis Le Franc, at AFP.

The emptying would take place after a request from the judge-commissioner and the liquidator to the employees, who will then have a week to say whether they accept it or not.

"I have the hope" that they accept it, continued Louis Le Franc, saluting their "spirit of responsibility".

In case of refusal, the prefect would call on "third parties", a prospect that employees consider "unthinkable" in terms of safety.

In this case, the employees, who claim compensation, have constantly denounced an "organized bankruptcy" of MaxamCorp.

"The company takes us for fools, while we have been ensuring the security of the site for months", according to Stéphane Hugueny, one of the spokespersons of the works council (CSE).

A responsibility sought

The Minister of Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher, in a letter to management on December 7, strongly questioned the company.

"There is no doubt that the responsibility of the Maxam group and its leaders will be sought, in the coming months, for various faults and shortcomings," she wrote.

The minister wondered in particular "on the conditions under which Maxam suddenly stopped ordering" from its subsidiary Maxam Tan.

The prefect, for his part, reported to the Béthune prosecutor's office on two points, concerning "the group's responsibility for industrial risk" and "on economic and financial questions".

Charges rejected by Me Laurent Cotret, lawyer for the management of MaxamCorp: “There is nothing to support possible criminal or civil liability.

The decision to close the site is clear, it is linked to a problem of competitiveness.

Moreover, when we tried to sell it, no buyer showed any interest on reasonable terms ”.

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  • Economy

  • Seveso

  • Factory

  • security

  • Bankruptcy