Europe

Iceland is no backwater, thanks largely to an innovative and forward looking business and entertainment sector supported by Síminn, one of the world’s most advanced telecommunications corporations.

Novelis today broke ground on a $250 million aluminium recycling and casting centre at its plant in Nachterstedt, Germany.

Constructed adjacent to the company's existing aluminium rolling mill, the new centre will enable the company to produce 400,000 metric tons of aluminium sheet ingot from recycled material annually, and is projected to be the world's largest aluminium recycling centre.

Estimated to cost around 16 billion euros, the South Stream pipeline will be jointly funded by Gazprom, Italy’s Eni, France’s EDF and a unit of Germany’s BASP, with the former expected to fund half of the capital expenditure.

Due to start operating in 2015, the pipeline will travel under the Black Sea via the Balkans, bringing up to 63 billion cubic metres of gas annually. Upon completion the pipeline will reach Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria and Italy in one leg, while a second will reach Croatia and Greece.

Chief executive officer Harri Natunen explains how the company is using bioheapleaching technology to get the most from its low grade nickel deposits.

Though it is perhaps not the first country that one associates with the industry, Finland’s mining history in fact dates back to 1540. Today the raw material base for its metal industry is made up from the exploitation of nickel, copper, cobalt, zinc and lead ores, as well as chromium, vanadium and iron deposits.

Most travellers would be unaware how fast their individual needs are changing, but understanding their behaviour keeps the leading global car rental brand Europcar ahead of the trend.

Swedish clothing retailer H&M was the biggest user of organic cotton worldwide for the second consecutive year in 2011, according to Textile Exchange's latest Global Sustainable Textiles Market Report.

“H&M's ambitious program continues to drive demand for organic cotton and other more sustainable fibres,” said LaRhea Pepper, managing director of Textile Exchange.

Dust control is an issue in the mining industry, but also in agriculture, railways, roads and even the military. Bruce Coulthard, president of PZS Stabilization, talks about the revolutionary dust control product PennzSuppress D.