HM King Carl XVI Gustaf opened Boliden's Aitik expansion

HM King Carl XVI Gustaf opened Boliden's Aitik expansion

The expansion of Aitik, Sweden's largest mine, was opened today by HM
King Carl XVI Gustaf. The expansion project, which will double the
mine's ore production, is one of the biggest industrial investments in
Sweden in recent years.

Aitik is one of Boliden's four mining areas. The Aitik open pit mine
produces ore containing copper, gold and silver. Over SEK 6 billion have
been invested with a view to increasing the production rate and
extending the mine's lifespan, while simultaneously achieving advantages
of scale and reducing the cost per tonne produced. A new concentrator
has been constructed, with new facilities for concentration, ore
production and outward deliveries. The project was started in 2006 and
completed in the first half of 2010. Production is now successively
being run in, and will achieve an annual capacity of 36 million tonnes
of ore in 2014.

“The project has been carried out at full speed despite the deep
recession incurring low metal prices during much of the project time, so
now we're opening the extended mine right at a time when global demand
for copper is high,” declares Boliden's President & CEO, Lennart Evrell.

“This project is the biggest in Boliden's history, and it will extend
our largest mine's lifespan by over 10 years. The project has been
completed on time, and now we're working on improving production
stability,” explains Jan Moström, President Business Area Mines.

Almost 200 guests, including HM King Carl XVI Gustaf, Minister for
Foreign Affairs, Carl Bildt, and the Governor of Norrbotten County,
Per-Ola Eriksson, were given a guided tour of the Aitik mining area. The
tour included the new concentrator, the open pit, the crushers, the
Salmijärvi satellite mine and the tailings pond.

During the inauguration ceremony, Lennart Evrell, Boliden's President &
CEO, thanked all those who had made the Aitik expansion possible:
shareholders, banks, suppliers, local and national authorities, and -
not least - Boliden's employees.

 

For more information, please contact:

Marcela Sylvander, Director Group Communications, Boliden AB, tel: +46 8
610 15 59
Frans Benson, Director Investor Relations, Boliden AB, tel: +46 8 610 15
23

 

Boliden is a leading European metals company whose core competence is in
the fields of exploration, mining, smelting and recycling. Boliden's
main metals are zinc and copper. Other important metals extracted and
refined include lead, gold and silver. The operations are conducted in
two Business Areas: Mines and Smelters. The number of employees is
approximately 4,400 and the turnover amounts to approximately SEK 28
billion annually. Its shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm, segment
Large Cap and on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada.          

               www.boliden.com