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ENVIRONMENT

Norsk Hydro seals deal with Brazil over environmental dispute

Norwegian metals group Norsk Hydro said on Thursday it has reached agreement with the Brazilian authorities following a dispute over the discharge of untreated water from its aluminium factory Alunorte, the largest in the world.

Published: 7 September 2018 09:21 CEST
Norsk Hydro seals deal with Brazil over environmental dispute
Norsk Hydro's headquarter in Oslo. Photo: Vidar Ruud/NTB Scanpix

Brazilian authorities had accused Norsk Hydro of having contaminated the Baracena municipality's waters with bauxite residues which they claimed had overflowed from a deposit basin at the Alunorte plant after heavy rainfall on 
February 16 and 17.

They slapped Norsk Hydro with two fines of 10 million reais (€2.5 million, around $3 million) each and ordered the aluminium supplier to halve its production at the site and suspend the use of the basin. 

“On September 5, Alunorte signed two agreements representing a milestone to resume normal operations at the alumina refinery in Para, Brazil,” Norsk Hydro said in a statement.

Under the terms of the two agreements signed Wednesday in Brazil, Norsk Hydro has committed to paying a total of 160 million reais in fines, investments and food coupons for local communities.

The group also pledges to pour another 150 million reais into local development projects that will benefit communities living near Alunorte.

Norsk Hydro said no timeline has yet been set for the resumption of full operations.

“Neither of the agreements signed include provisions or establishes a timeline to resume normal operations at the refinery. However, Hydro consider the agreements as an important step towards resuming operations,” theNorwegian company said.

'Completely unacceptable'

According to an institute reporting to Brazil's ministry of public health, the discharge into the local river posed risks to fishermen and other local communities living near the Amazon as the water they drink and bathe in has high levels of aluminium and heavy metals. 

Norsk Hydro denies any toxic spill, but admits there was an unauthorised discharge of untreated rainwater.

“Internal and external reviews confirm that there was no overflow from the bauxite residue deposits or harmful spills from the February rain event,” the company said.

Norsk Hydro had in March apologised for the discharge, adding that it was “completely unacceptable and in breach with what Hydro stands for”.

The company will likely benefit from a return to full production capacity, after seeing its second quarter profits hit by the Brazil dispute.

Investors welcomed news of the agreement, bringing Norsk Hydro's share price up 4.5 percent in Thursday mid-morning trading.

ENVIRONMENT

Sweden’s SSAB to build €4.5bn green steel plant in Luleå 

The Swedish steel giant SSAB has announced plans to build a new steel plant in Luleå for 52 billion kronor (€4.5 billion), with the new plant expected to produce 2.5 million tons of steel a year from 2028.

Published: 2 April 2024 13:44 CEST
Sweden's SSAB to build €4.5bn green steel plant in Luleå 

“The transformation of Luleå is a major step on our journey to fossil-free steel production,” the company’s chief executive, Martin Lindqvist, said in a press release. “We will remove seven percent of Sweden’s carbon dioxide emissions, strengthen our competitiveness and secure jobs with the most cost-effective and sustainable sheet metal production in Europe.”

The new mini-mill, which is expected to start production at the end of 2028 and to hit full capacity in 2029, will include two electric arc furnaces, advanced secondary metallurgy, a direct strip rolling mill to produce SSABs specialty products, and a cold rolling complex to develop premium products for the transport industry.

It will be fed partly from hydrogen reduced iron ore produced at the HYBRIT joint venture in Gälliväre and partly with scrap steel. The company hopes to receive its environemntal permits by the end of 2024.

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The announcement comes just one week after SSAB revealed that it was seeking $500m in funding from the US government to develop a second HYBRIT manufacturing facility, using green hydrogen instead of fossil fuels to produce direct reduced iron and steel.

The company said it also hoped to expand capacity at SSAB’s steel mill in Montpelier, Iowa. 

The two new investment announcements strengthen the company’s claim to be the global pioneer in fossil-free steel.

It produced the world’s first sponge iron made with hydrogen instead of coke at its Hybrit pilot plant in Luleå in 2021. Gälliväre was chosen that same year as the site for the world’s first industrial scale plant using the technology. 

In 2023, SSAB announced it would transform its steel mill in Oxelösund to fossil-free production.

The company’s Raahe mill in Finland, which currently has new most advanced equipment, will be the last of the company’s big plants to shift away from blast furnaces. 

The steel industry currently produces 7 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, and shifting to hydrogen reduced steel and closing blast furnaces will reduce Sweden’s carbon emissions by 10 per cent and Finland’s by 7 per cent.

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