The Auby smelter is located in the town of Auby in the north of France, approximately 35 km south of the city of Lille.
The plant is situated on a site of 138 hectares of which the process area covers approximately 8.5 hectares.
Zinc smelting at Auby dates back to 1869. More than 100 years of industrial activity in the area has resulted in soil contamination, both on-site and in the surrounding areas, as a result of atmospheric depositions from Auby and other metal processing facilities.
Soil Remediation.
As part of its commitment to actively manage environmental risks, Auby has initiated various investigations and remedial projects, on-site as well as in the surrounding areas. These include:
- Assessment of off-site soil contamination and community health risk
- Clean up of off-site soils at local schools and public areas
- Clean up of soils in approximately 200 home gardens close to the site
- On-site soil remediation of the former slag and residue heaps
Waste Management
Due to the nature of raw material processed at Auby, process sludge (goethite and gypsum) was produced and stored in secure on-site landfills (ponds). To ensure maximum life of current on-site landfills and minimise the potential for longer term impacts, Auby has implemented a project of dewatering the goethite and gypsum before disposal. The sludge compacting project includes both the installation of a dewatering plant as well as the redevelopment of one of the existing landfills for storage of the dewatered goethite and gypsum cakes.
Rehabilitation of Historical Landfills
Ponds located on the southwestern part of the site were closed and rehabilitated in 1995. Unfortunately, the capping was not properly installed and attempts at restoring the cap have not been successful. As a result, the entire capping of these ponds needs to be renewed. One of the ponds will be used as the repository for contaminated soils from on-site and off-site remediation projects.
Additionally, two landfills which have reached the end of their lives also need to be closed by mid 2009 to meet EU landfill directive requirements.
