Boliden Kokkola inaugurates new silver recovery plant

Today is the official start of the new silver recovery plant at Boliden’s zinc
smelter Kokkola in Finland. The SEK 250 million-investment will result in a
production of 25 tonnes of silver annually.
In April of 2012 Boliden launched a project for extracting silver from zinc
concentrates, the background being higher contents of silver in concentrates
including the feed from the recent expanded zinc silver mine Boliden Garpenberg.
The new plant will produce silver concentrate, an intermediate product, which
will be sold to silver refineries. The amount of silver in concentrate will be
approximately 25 tonnes annually.

“This new process is of great importance for Boliden Kokkola since it will
improve both profitability and raw material efficiency. Silver concentrate will
now be one of Boliden Kokkola’s most valuable by-products,” says Jarmo Herronen,
General Manager at Boliden Kokkola.

The inauguration at Kokkola takes place at the same day as Boliden’s 90 years
celebration, which focuses on knowledge and experience.

“Based on 90 years of knowledge and experience, Boliden has developed a strong
competitive position. The Kokkola silver recovery process, and the recently
inaugurated Garpenberg zinc- silver mine expansion, are both in line with our
strategy to maximize the metal and by- product production from incoming raw
materials,” says Lennart Evrell Boliden’s CEO.

Facts:
With its annual production capacity of 315 000 tonnes Boliden Kokkola is the
second largest zinc smelter in Europe with pure zinc and zinc alloys as main
products. Boliden Kokkola was the first smelter in the world to introduce the
direct leaching process for concentrates. The majority of the zinc produced in
Kokkola is sold to the European steel industry and is later used within the
automotive and construction industries. Half of the global silver production is
used in electrical and electronics industries, other users include photographic
and jewellery industries.


For further information, please contact:
Marcela Sylvander, Group Communications, +46 733244551

Boliden is a metals company with a commitment to sustainable development. Our
roots are Nordic, but our business is global. The company’s core competence is
within the fields of exploration, mining, smelting and metals recycling. Boliden
has a total of approximately 4,800 employees and a turnover of SEK 34 billion.
Its shares is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm, segment Large Cap. www.boliden.com