COUNCIL OF Brussels, 12 December 2006 (13.12) THE (OR. es)

16651/06

ENV 699 SAN 266

NOTE from: General Secretariat to: delegations Subject: Foreseeable impact of the Community mercury strategy on the area of Almadén

Delegations will find attached a note from the Spanish delegation, by way of information to delegations, on the above subject, for discussion under "Other business" at the Environment Council meeting on 18 December 2006.

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16651/06 rty/LG/ep 1 DG I EN ANNEX

FORESEEABLE IMPACT OF THE COMMUNITY MERCURY STRATEGY ON THE AREA OF ALMADÉN

Almadén, situated in the southeast of the province of in the Castilla La Mancha region, is currently one of the most economically depressed parts of , with lower population density and income per capita as well as unemployment and inactive population rates higher than the Spanish national average.

Almadén has the largest known deposits of mercury in the world to date. It is estimated that Almadén has produced roughly a third of the mercury consumed by humanity, with more than 300.000 tonnes extracted from its mine.

The mines of Almadén gave the its renown in ancient times. While the first records of their operation, probably started by the Carthaginians, date back to four centuries before Christ, their major development took place after the Roman conquest, as attested by the writings of Strabo, Cicero, Quintilian and Livy.

Since then the people of Almadén have been working mercury, continually improving the technology for extracting and managing the metal.

The population level has fallen in pace with the decline in mining activity. The Almadén area currently has a population of some 15 000, a far cry from the 23 000 of 1970. Up to a few years ago, during its period of greatest activity, the Almadén mine had over 2 400 employees.

Almadén boasts the Escuela Universitaria Politécnica, under the aegis of the Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, which is the successor to the former Escuela de Minas, founded in 1777 by King Carlos III, and which teaches technical mining engineering and technical industrial engineering, thereby contributing over the last 225 years to the training of highly-qualified engineers in the mining of mercury and the mercury industry.

16651/06 rty/LG/ep 2 ANNEX DG I EN Similar to the European Union's origins, the southern part of Castilla La Mancha has been closely tied in with mining: coalmines in Puertollano and mercury in Almadén, with both areas also wishing to encourage technical cooperation, as well as research on and development of their activities.

In 2005 the European Commission approved the Community strategy on mercury and is currently discussing the Community Regulation on the banning of exports and the safe storage of mercury.

Spain fully supports the Community strategy and is working intensively on various measures to terminate exports in 2011, promote the best technologies available in the chloro-alkali industry, strictly apply the IPPC Directive, and support the establishment of a binding legal instrument enabling a global ban on mercury, as well as on establishing measures to terminate primary production in the Almadén mercury mine permanently.

It is clear that the end of mercury production and marketing after more than twenty centuries of extraction and industrial activity will have a considerable socio-economic impact on the Almadén area, as the European Commission itself explains in the strategy, stating that it "recognises the historical, economic and social significance of mercury production and trade in Almadén" and that it "strongly supports the provision of help to develop new areas of business and employment".

It is our view that the strategy should be an opportunity to improve the environment, create new technologies in industrial processes and improve the management of mercury from the chloro-alkali industry. All of this should have direct consequences in socio-economic terms and should clearly affect regions with the human resources and facilities to meet the new challenges.

Almadén is fully committed to the significant environmental undertaking entailed by the strategy, accepts the socio-economic sacrifice required for implementation of the strategy, and seeks balanced and sustainable development for its own future.

16651/06 rty/LG/ep 3 ANNEX DG I EN Almadén has the human resources, the facilities as well as the modern and ancient know-how to meet head on the challenges of the Community strategy on mercury. Industrial activity is managed by a State enterprise, Minas de Almadén y Arrayanes, with great technical capability and capacity for research and development, and which currently manages over 90 % of the mercury from the European chloro-alkali industry.

In this process, the European Union can also contribute to implementing the undertakings established in the strategy with regard to mercury and with regard to Almadén, thereby ensuring full and fair implementation of the strategy.

I am therefore pleased to have briefed this Council of Environment Ministers on the foreseeable impact of the Community strategy on mercury on industrial activity in Spain's Almadén area. We would also like to make Almadén's human resources and facilities available to the European Community, and above all the know-how and good practices of the men and women in this part of Spain who have been working mercury intensively for over 2 000 years, thereby contributing to the development of European industry at the time.

We therefore propose the establishment and development of an action programme so that, together with the Community, we can help to ensure sustainable development for the area of Almadén and implement the Community strategy on mercury.

16651/06 rty/LG/ep 4 ANNEX DG I EN