1 July 2026

At Lenoncourt, industry follows nature’s calendar

At our Lenoncourt site, our teams have developed an approach that looks simple but is demanding to implement: aligning the industrial schedule with the biological cycles of local wildlife. Clearing, earthworks, vegetation management, every operation is planned around a reality that doesn't negotiate: nature has its seasons, and disturbances have a greater or lesser impact depending on when they occur.

This approach goes beyond goodwill alone. It is written into our operating permits (APs) and draws on the recommendations of the impact assessment for our mining works application. But beyond the regulatory framework, it reflects a conviction shared by our field teams: we can produce differently, without sacrificing the biodiversity around us.

A schedule built around biological sensitivities

The underlying principle is to follow a wildlife impact calendar that clearly separates sensitive periods from acceptable intervention windows. Two key constraints shape this calendar:

Spring and summer are to be avoided. From roughly March to August, almost all the species present on the site are breeding. Birds nesting on the ground or in shrub layers, amphibians on the move, insects in their larval stage… Any mechanical work on vegetation or soil then poses a direct risk of mortality — crushed eggs, chicks lost from felled nests, low-mobility individuals unable to flee from machinery.

Winter creates a specific constraint for areas with bats. Trees and old walls likely to shelter bats must not be disturbed during the hibernation period. Bats in winter torpor are extremely vulnerable to any destruction of their roosts.

This is why September and October have become our reference window for the most disruptive works. This period falls after the end of summer breeding and before bats begin to hibernate: a twin constraint that leaves a narrow but workable margin.

Long-term planning to reduce biological impact

Clearing is one of the most disruptive operations for biodiversity: destruction of wooded habitats, direct mortality risk for the species that nest or breed there. On the East Panel of Lenoncourt, this reality was factored in from the very design of the track creation and development project.

Humens has committed to carrying out the works outside the breeding season and before bats begin to hibernate. In practice, this means planning over several years, with operations sequenced according to ecological constraints rather than production logic alone.

This phasing brings direct ecological benefits: it allows certain species to complete their breeding cycle before their habitat is altered, reduces mortality at the most vulnerable stages (eggs, juveniles) and gives mobile individuals time to move away. In return, it requires longer and more constrained industrial planning, but that is precisely what our teams have learned to integrate.

Removing night-time lighting: a discreet measure with a strong impact

Night-time lighting is one of the most significant issues for local wildlife. On the site, all permanent night-time lighting is prohibited. This rule, set out in our practices under measure R1, responds to a precise ecological reality.

Bats are nocturnal hunters. Artificial light pollution disrupts their hunting, movement and communication behaviours. Some species, particularly the most heritage-listed ones, avoid lit areas entirely, which can cut them off from their roosts or feeding grounds.

But the effects don't stop at bats. Night-time lighting also affects birdlife (disorientation, fatal attraction to light sources) and insect life, the base of the food chain for many predators present on the site. Reducing artificial light at night means preserving a whole functioning ecosystem.

Where lighting is strictly necessary for safety reasons, our specifications favour:

Beams directed downwards (zero spill towards the sky)

Presence or motion detectors, to limit exposure time

Low-pressure sodium lamps, whose yellow spectrum is noticeably less attractive to insects than mercury-vapour or metal-halide lamps, and less disruptive to nocturnal wildlife in general.

On the ground: real constraints, concrete benefits

"Building these constraints into our schedule is no small thing. It means that some works we could have done in June, we push back to September. Sometimes it disrupts the planning, it means anticipating further ahead. But we've also learned to see the logic in it. When you know why you're waiting (because there are active nests, because the bats are hibernating) it changes your relationship with the site. We work in a living environment. The biological calendar is a reality that machinery cannot ignore," explains Flore Parisot, Salt Operations and Natural Environments Manager at Novacarb, Groupe Humens.

The benefits are real, even if they are hard to quantify precisely. Maintaining functional bat populations contributes to the natural regulation of insects, a direct ecological service for the surrounding farmland and woodland. Protecting nesting birds supports the balance of local ecosystems. And the consistency between the commitments made in the impact assessment and actual practice strengthens the credibility of our future permit applications.

There is also a less measurable but equally real dimension: working in step with natural cycles changes the way teams relate to the area. The site is no longer just a resource to be exploited: it is a living environment, with its own logic, that we are learning to know and respect.

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🦇 Bats: 16 species have been identified in the study area, nearly three-quarters of the assemblage known in the Lorraine region. Of these, 11 are considered heritage species, including ones as sensitive as the serotine bat, Daubenton's bat, the whiskered bat and Leisler's bat. The East Panel woodland provides a favourable habitat for their breeding and potentially for hibernation roosts. In metropolitan France, all 33 bat species are protected.

🐸 Amphibians: The study area offers many aquatic habitats favourable to breeding (pond, pools, water-filled ditches, ruts in forest tracks), where several species have been observed. Three of them are heritage species: the great crested newt, discreet and uncommon in Lorraine, classed as "Near Threatened" on the national and regional red lists, along with the common frog and the Pool frog, also "Near Threatened" nationally. Track works are planned outside the breeding and migration period.

🦅 Birdlife: Open-habitat species nest on the ground, making them particularly exposed to mechanical operations during their breeding season.