The location

• Location: Lena, Asturias, Spain
• Pilot Cases: 1, 2, 3a
• Main Pollutants: Arsenic and Mercury
• Area to improve (directly): 6.800 m2
• Area to improve (indirectly): 39.000 m2

The main SUBProducts4LIFE site “La Soterraña” is an abandoned mine (mined by mountain mine methods, without vertical shaft) and industrial area in the North of Spain. Asturias is a region where in the present inventory of contaminated soils, 9 of the 12 listed contaminated soils are waste deposits with high arsenic and mercury content, and two other locations are industrial areas with high arsenic content.

It is considered the second Spanish mercury installation and one of the greatest European. It began operating in 1844, obtaining arsenic and mercury, and ceased activity on April, 1974. It had several owners, until in 1975 the land of Mines Soterraña were rented by Siderfluor SA (stakeholder of the project). Mercury and arsenic activity have not taken part since 1988, remaining outdoors with an inadequate dismantling, which has left rests of foundations and other industrial and mining facilities (see attached figures). It is now the owner of the land (not of the mining or industrial facilities).

LIFE programme

The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action. The general objective of LIFE is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental and climate policy and legislation by co-financing projects with European added value.

The European Commission (DG Environment and DG Climate Action) manages the LIFE programme. The Commission has delegated the implementation of many components of the LIFE programme to the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME). External selection, monitoring and communication teams provide assistance to the Commission and EASME.