Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

ENVIRONMENT

Spain promises help for volcano damage on La Palma as lava still flows

Spanish authorities have pledged to speed up delivering aid to the volcano-hit island of La Palma in the Canaries, as destruction continues over one month after eruptions began.

Published: 23 October 2021 16:29 CEST
The Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma.
The Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma. Photo: JORGE GUERRERO / AFP

Part of a volcano that has been erupting for over a month collapsed on Saturday, spelling further disaster for La Palma, a Canary Island off northwest Africa.

In response, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday said the government would speed up aid to those most impacted, mainly the agriculture and fishing industries, according to reports.

Since the eruption started on September 19th, lava has covered almost 900 hectares of land, destroying over 2,000 buildings and many banana plantations.

More than 7,000 people have been displaced, while so far no-one has been killed by the continuous lava flows.

READ ALSO: Volcanic eruption on Spain’s La Palma hits one-month mark

“At the cabinet meeting next Tuesday we are going to make a budgetary modification to accelerate the arrival of economic resources for both the Employment Plan and aid for the entire agriculture and fishing sector,” Sanchez told reporters at a press conference.

The Canary Islands Volcanology Institute said that part of the main cone had collapsed on Saturday morning, while tweeting the latest developments of the volcano with video footage.

The continuing updates show that lava continues to destroy swathes of land, with no sign of stopping.

After a month of continual eruptions accompanied by minor earthquakes, geologists say they have no idea how much longer it will last.

READ ALSO: Who let the dogs out? Mystery disappearance grips Spain as La Palma volcano rages on

The volcano was putting out some 10,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide emissions per day, and to start being considered “extinct” it should emit 400 tonnes or less per day, David Calvo, an expert with the Involcan volcanology institute, told reporters.

This is the Atlantic island’s third volcanic eruption in a century, the last one taking place in 1971.

Prime Minister Sanchez has expressed his gratitude to all those working to contain the eruption.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

READ ALSO: 

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.

SHOW COMMENTS