The station is to be inaugurated in March 2008.

The polar station "Princess Elizabeth" will not produce any CO2 emissions, both the company's CEO Thomas Leysen and Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt told Dow Jones Newswires at a ceremony promoting the project. It will use cutting edge-materials such as fuel cells and will focus on renewable energies. An up-to-date waste-treatment process will minimize contamination of the environment.

Umicore and other private investors will provide the financing for the station's building up to EUR4.4 million, and the Belgian government will provide EUR2 million for the equipment and will bear the maintenance costs.

This is a "showcase of our commitment into sustainable energy research," Umicore CEO Leysen said.

The other main investors inclde maritive CMB SA (CMB.BT) group and electricity giant Electrabel SA (ELEB.BT).

Corporate participation "gives meaning to the project," said Alain Hubert, International Polar Foundation President. The project aims "to set an example of what could be done, to show to the general public that things are possible. Otherwise, there is a danger that people get so alarmed by the climate warming that they get paralyzed and do nothing."

The base will house 20 scientists for four months per year. They will carry on a research program under the responsibility of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office

-By Julie Majcherczyk, Dow Jones Newswires; +32 2 741 1484; julie.majcherczyk@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-14-07 1321ET

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