New Nickel Plant at the Rönnskär Smelter

Boliden invests SEK 48 million in an evaporator for nickel sulphate at the Rönnskär copper smelter in Skellefteå. The production facility will double the smelter’s nickel sulphate production capacity and enhance its flexibility in terms of processing raw materials containing nickel.

Nickel is an important by-product for Rönnskär, which produces approximately 2,000 tonnes of nickel sulphate per year. Nickel is found in copper concentrate as well as in secondary materials recycled at the smelter. Nickel sulphate has been produced since the fifties and is used as a raw material in the production of nickel, as well as in the chemical industry. The new nickel facility will be part of the existing copper sulphate plant. The plant purifies a solution of chemicals from the electrolytic refinery to produce copper sulphate and nickel sulphate. Once the new plant is up and running in the autumn of 2006, nickel production capacity will double. The highly modern self-contained process also means that nickel emissions from Rönnskär will be halved. The Rönnskär smelter produces metals and chemicals from mining raw materials and recycled material. Its main products are copper, lead, gold, silver and zinc clinker. Rönnskär is currently one of the world’s largest facilities for recycling base metals. For further information, please contact: Roger Sundqvist, General Manager, Rönnskär, tel.: +46 (0)910-77 34 00, +46 (0)70-399 72 91 Ulf Söderström, Senior Vice President, Group Communications, Boliden AB, tel.: +46 (0)8-610 15 57, +46 (0)70-618 95 95