Administrative decision against Boliden's Spanish subsidiary

The administrative Supreme Court of Spain has rendered a final decision dismissing Apirsa’s appeal against the administrative decision of the Spanish Ministry of Environment imposing a liability on Apirsa in the amount of EUR 45 million in connection with the 1998 tailings dam breach in Los Frailes, Spain. The administrative court stated in its decision that, even though the dam failure was caused by design and construction errors by the companies responsible for designing and building the dam and Apirsa has the right to pursue corresponding claims against those companies, Apirsa, as an operator of the dam at the time of the accident, cannot be relieved of administrative liability imposed by the Ministry of the Environment. As it was previously communicated, Apirsa has initiated such proceedings against those companies and currently intends to increase the amount of its claims against these companies to the full amount of the liability and to further pursue its claims against these companies and their respective insurance companies. In addition, Boliden’s view, based on legal advice and opinions from Boliden’s Spanish legal counsel, is that Boliden will not incur any financial damage as a result of the claims against Apirsa, remains unchanged. For further information, please contact: Ulf Söderström, Senior VP Group Communications, telephone +46 8 610 15 57, +46 70 618 95 95