1 it takes a special kind of person to work for anglo american’s exploration team.

people like mattias johansson, who have the skills to find minerals in the harshest environments but who are also driven to find ways to minimize the impact on that environment.

exploring high up in the arctic, he is part of a team that pioneered a closed-loop drilling system, which reduced both water usage and waste.

it’s about finding ways to discover minerals and showing a respect for the land and the communities that live there.

if you are interested in working in mining at the real frontier of mattias johansson discovery, find out more at anglo american getthefullstory.com/careers wanted: people who can find a needle in the arctic

2

41829_6 AngloAmerican_Exploration_Mattias Johansson Artworker: Proof: DATE: MH 1 16.08.12 Client: Anglo American MH 2 16.08.12 Description: Exploration press MH 3 17.08.12

Artwork Size: 297x210 mm Trim 303x216 Bleed Page 1 Publication: Excursion report FONTS: DIN Traffic: Matt Hopkins Table of contents

Introduction 6 Monday July 7 Atlas Copco 9 Tuesday July 8 Zinkgruvan, Lundin Mining 14 Wednesday July 9 Metso Minerals 19 Thursday July 10 Garpenberg, Boliden 23 Weekend, some free time 28 Sunday and Monday July 13, 14 Kiruna, LKAB 29 Tuesday July 15 Aitik, Boliden 34 Wednesday July 16 Björkdalsgruvan 40 Thursday July 17 Boliden Office andö R nnskär Smelter 45

5 Introduction

Each year the SME-TMS Student Chapter Delft organises a study trip for their student members.

The aim is to get a clear impression of the mining, extractive metallurgy and recycling industry in a particular country, its importance for Europe and the role it plays world-wide. The focus is always on the technological and economical aspects as well as on the cultural and geographical specialties of the country which is visited.

As in 2002, 2006 and 2010 Sweden was chosen this year as the destination of the study trip. The follow- ing report summarises the information which was gathered on this trip.

How this report came to be In preperation of the study trip the group was divided into teams that would each do research on the companies to be visited. This resulted in the travel journal which contained the gathered information on the companies and some prepared questions. At the start of the study trip the group was divided once more into 5 teams which would each focus on a specific subject during the company visits, namely:

Health and Safety Environment and Sustainability Marketing Innovation Efficiency

This report is a result of the effort of all 16 student particapants and contains a combination of the research done prior to the study trip and the research done on the 5 aformentioned subjects during the trip.

We hope you enjoy reading our report.

Participants: Hubert Breukelman Ottomar Brussee Jeras Dieleman Michiel Ensing Mathijs Groenewegen Talitha Groenewold Stefan Groenheide Bibi van der Horst Alexander Kempke Marlotte Kox Adriaan van Natijne Suus Oudwater Renske Taylor Roel van Toorenenburg Kaj van der Waal Wokke Wijdeveld

TU Delft representatives: Hans de Ruiter Marinus Dalm

6 Lime, a versatile product for multiple applications

We invite you to visit our website to learn more about Lhoist

www.lhoist.com

Follow us on 7

LHO 1406 Lhoist Website QR Ad EN [A4].indd 1 3/06/14 14:35 From underground coal mines in Queensland, australia, to gold mines in Mali to the oil sands of canada, you’ll find cat products hard at work — drilling and digging, loading and hauling, grading and dozing, cutting and shearing. You’ll find cat dealers — providing unmatched support, expert service and integrated solutions. and you’ll find our people — working alongside our customers to help them mine efficiently and productively while doing the utmost to protect the health and safety of miners, the environment and the communities where mining companies operate. mining.cat.com

© 2013 caterpillar. all Rights Reserved. cat, catERPillaR, their respective logos, “caterpillar Yellow,” the “Power Edge” trade dress as well as corporate and product identity used herein, are trademarks of caterpillar and may not be used without permission.

8 Monday July 7 – Atlas Copco

We started our study trip at Atlas Copco in Örebro. The morning programme consisted of some presentations including a company presentation, HR presentation, product portfolio and presentation on automation. In the afternoon we were given a guided tour through the facilities. In the evening our hosts Peter Bray and Annelie Mård treated us to a nice dinner in Örebro.

Hosts: Marcus Eklind (Product Line Manager Underground Material Handling) Annelie Mård (Vice President Human Resources Rocktec) Julian Reynolds (Product Line Manager Automation) Peter Bray (Product Manager - Face Drilling Equipment)

9 Atlas Copco

Quick Facts • Founded February 21st, 1873 by Edvard Fränckel as AB Atlas. • Revenue of 84 Billion SEK or 9.7 Billion EUR over 2013. • Employees 40,000+ • Producer of industrial equipment.

Introduction Atlas Copco is a Swedish company which has been around for over 140 years and has its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. It produces industrial tools and equipment like innovative compressors (world’s leading producer), construction and mining equipment, air treatment systems, power tools, vacuum solutions and assembly systems. The company operates in four business areas: compressor technique, mining and rock excavation technique, construction technique and industrial technique. Atlas Copco has over 40.000 employees and is involved in more than 180 countries. The company had a revenue of 84 Billion SEK or 9.7 Billion EUR in 2013, 34% of which was earned with Mining and Rock Excavation Technique.

History Atlas Copco was founded on February 21st, 1873 by Edvard Fränckel as AB Atlas. In the same year, it took over the railway car maker Ekenbergs Soner which gave the company its initial core business. In 1890, it acquired the rights to make Rudolf Diesel’s engine under a subsidiary company called AB Diesels Motorer. In the early 20th century, the company moved away from their focus on railway cars and began producing portable compressors and pneumatic tools. Due to World War I, the demand for AB Atlas Diesel compressors dropped which forced the company to focus on air compressors. In 1948 the Swedish company Polar Atlas, a marine diesel engine producer, merged with the company to give it its current name Atlas Copco in 1956. Copco is an acronym for the Belgian Compagnie Pneumatique Commerciale. In 1968 the company is divided into three production companies: Atlas Copco Mining & Construction Techniques (CMT), Atlas Copco Airpower (CA) and Atlas Copco Tools (AT). The company kept developing ever since and continues to do so today.

Mining products Atlas Copco develops, manufactures and markets a wide range of mining products and tools of which a selection can be found in table 1. The complete line of mining equipment are designed to have high productivity with a low maintenance cost. This approach in developing their products has made Atlas Copco into one of the leading manufacturers in rock drilling, construction and mining equipment.

Drill rigs and rock drills Drilling tools Loading and haulage equipment Cable bolting rigs Down the hole drilling tools Continuous loading equipment Dimension stone equipment Grinding equipment Underground loaders Scaling rigs Raiseboring tools Underground trucks Face drilling rigs Rotary drilling tools Raiseboring machines Top hammer drilling tools Rotary blasthole drilling rigs Horizontal drilling tools

Table: A selection of mining and rock excavation products by Atlas Copco.

10 Örebro plant

Atlas Copco’s Örebro plant houses the divisions Underground Rock Excavation, Surface Drilling Equipment and Rocktec division. The plant develops, manufactures and markets a wide range of tun- nelling and mining equipment and has 1,100+ employees. The city of Örebro houses Drilling Solutions, Geotechnical Drilling and Exploration, Secoroc’s Rock Drilling Tools, Surface Drilling Equipment, Underground Rock Excavation and Rocktec’s Global Research and the Development Center.

Health & Safety Atlas Copco employs over 40.200 people in 90 countries. With these numbers, it is inevitable that some of the countries are conflict areas or politically unstable. Every Atlas Copco employee working in those areas has had a special training and will get security surveillance if needed. At Atlas Copco they have a timeline with mandatory objectives in safety training. Every employee of Atlas Copco needs to follow certain trainings, no matter where in the world or in which department they work. These programs are offered in a classroom setting and online as e-learning.

Atlas Copco is working on the development of remote control machines, to prevent incidents to the drivers of the machines. Besides focussing on improving the equipment in a technical point of view, Atlas Copco also works hard on improving the ergonomic design of the equipment, creating more leg space for example. Living in a modern world, Atlas Copco tries to enhance the personal comfort of the drivers as well, by installing CD players and air conditioning for example.

Environment & Sustainability Atlas Copco does several things to commit to sustainable productivity. For instance, in 1984 they initi- ated the “water for all” project in Africa. They sent drilling equipment to help with the drilling of wells for drinking water. They also let machines work more sustainable by applying a certain software to operate different machines. This can increase the amount of tons mined per month. This software does a lot for automa- tion as well. There are scoop trams which can, after being programmed, drive automatically from the hauling location to the dump filled with ore. The automation process is one of the reasons why a lot of mines did not have to close. At last, they have the “green line”. These are products which run on electricity. The advantages of this are no diesel consumption, higher productivity and no ventilation problems. Nowadays the emission regulations for diesel can sometimes be a big problem, depending on the country. Unfortunately there is also a down side to being green. The machines have very big cables and are unsuitable for bad roads.

Marketing Atlas Copco is an unique company in the mining industry. Selling mining machinery is a real market- ing challenge for Atlas Copco, making sure their customers always have their newest and most high- tech machinery. Using a website, a facebook page, an app for mobile devices and a youtube account they keep their customers and potential customers up to date about new developments and new prod- ucts. The base of customers they have is vast and widespread through the mining industry. A good example for their marketing efforts is the advertisement they have posted on their website about the new Scoop- tram ST18.

A last thing to note is the introduction of their new ‘Green Line’. As we all know ‘sustainable’ and ‘green’ sells and so Atlas Copco introduced this new concept where they redesigned products they already had to let them run on electricity.

11 Scan the QR code to watch the Scooptram ST18 movie! Innovation Gold mining is the main business for Atlas Copco and they construct highly efficient mining equip- ment for this purpose. Atlas Copco has a motto to deliver world class supplies for their world class customers and they try to live up to this motto. World class equipment and supplies can only be manu- factured when there is a lot of interaction with the customers and Atlas Copco listens to their needs in the field. Atlas Copco owns two test mines (one in sandstone and one in granite) to test all their prototypes before they go into production, this gives them an advantages over competitors because they can eas- ily optimise the systems without having to run trials with external parties. Nowadays the focus shifts towards automation, with data driven, autonomic production in the mines. They already had done tests on automatic driving systems, so that the driver only had to scoop the material and driving was done automatically by laser guidance systems. In the future Atlas Copco wants to create a fully automatic mining system, based on real-time data.

Efficiency Atlas Copco’s production is spread across centralised locations, for example producing the sturdy, bulky chassis in Eastern-Europe, and final assembly in Sweden or any other combination of factories world- wide, for example the plant in Nanjing (China). They produce different models for different markets, as different standards apply and to maintain their market share. For example: for the Chinese market they make their equipment bare essential to be in the same price range as the Chinese brands. Atlas Copco has two different test mines, which are fully owned by them, to extensively test their equip- ment in different environments. As competition is tough various parts of the factory work around the clock to deliver quicker than competitors.

THE NEW SCOOPTRAM ST18 The all new Scooptram ST18 is smart, hard working and easy to like. By combining advanced technology and smart features – the Scooptram ST18 means a big move for safety, maneuverability, comfort and productivity in underground operations. It’s the greatest ride in the mine. Enjoy the ride!

Design your own Scooptram ST18 on StyleMyST18.com

12

Scooptram ST18_The greatest ride in the mine.indd 1 14/05/21 09:23:52 Scan the QR code to watch the Scooptram ST18 movie!

THE NEW SCOOPTRAM ST18 The all new Scooptram ST18 is smart, hard working and easy to like. By combining advanced technology and smart features – the Scooptram ST18 means a big move for safety, maneuverability, comfort and productivity in underground operations. It’s the greatest ride in the mine. Enjoy the ride!

Design your own Scooptram ST18 on StyleMyST18.com

13

Scooptram ST18_The greatest ride in the mine.indd 1 14/05/21 09:23:52 Tuesday July 8- Zinkgruvan, Lundin Mining

On Tuesday the group visited the Zinkgruvan mine. After a general presentation and safety instruction the group was split in two for a tour through the mine and mill.

Hosts: Jouni Hansen-Haug (Mine Manager) Kjell Tillman (Plant Manager)

14 Zinkgruvan mine and processing plant

Quick facts • Location: 175 km SW of Stockholm; 15 km from Askersund. • Owner: Lundin Mining Corporation. • Products: Zinc concentrate (Sphalerite); • Lead-Silver concentrate (Galena ); • Copper concentrate (chalcopyrite, as of 2010 ). • Production rate (ores): 900 000 t/a Zn. • Processing capacity: 1.1 Mtpa for Zinc ores; 0.3 Mtpa for Copper ores. • Concentrate properties: 54% Zn; 75% Pb. • Production start: 1857. • Mining method: Panel stoping. • Employees: 340 + 100 contractors. • Cash costs per pound: $ 0.45/lb Zn . • Operating earnings: $ 16 539 000 (2013) • Sales: $ 43 078 000 (2013)

Even though the Zinkgruvan deposit has been known since the sixteenth century the Belgian company Vieille Montange was the first to start large scale, underground production in 1857. Foreign companies operated the mine since. The Canadian Lundin Mining that now owns and operates the mine and adja- cent facilities bought the mine from Rio Tinto in 2004 . The current concessions were revised and combined in 2000 and 2002 and run till 2025 and 2027, and may be extended by (at least) 10 years . The mine site near Åskersund includes three shafts and a processing facility for 1.1 Mtpa Lead-Zinc and 0.3 Mtpa Copper ore.

Owner, operator The Belgian company Vielle Montange (later: Union Miniere) started production in 1857. Up till 1976 the yearly production was around 300 000 t/a . Between 1976 and 1982 new facilities were build and production expanded to 900 000 t/a (Pb-Zn ores). In 1995 Australian company North Limited bought the Zinkgruvan mine and started an exploration program. In 2000 Rio Tinto bought North Limited and became owner and operator of the mine. The current owner, the Canadian Lundin Mining, bought the mine from Rio Tinto in 2004 . At the same time the life of mine silver production was bought by the Silver Wheaton Corporation .

Location and surrounding infrastructure The mine is located 175 km west of Stockholm, near the E18 highway connecting Stockholm and Oslo. The town of Askersund is approximately 15 km away and Örebro, 35 km away, has a railway station and small airport . The climatological conditions are mild for Swedish standards. Average summer temperature is 18 °C, the lowest average temperature is in February: -4 °C . Annual precipitation is 750 mm, slightly less than the Dutch average . End products (concentrates) are send 100 km by road to the port of Otterbäcken on lake Vättern. From there it is transported by ship over the Swedish lakes and canals to Göteborg where it meets the sea after 200 km .

15 Geology Zinkgruvan is located in the south west corner of the Proterozoic-aged Bergslagen greenstone belt. The area is well known for its numerous iron ore and base metal mines, especially the Falun deposit, situated 200 km north of Zinkgruvan. Here the mining production started before the year 1000 and continued until 1992.

Figure: Generalised Local Geology Map .

The district is composed of a series of small, elongated basins with felsic metavolcanics overlain by metasediments. The basins are surrounded by mainly granitoid intrusions of which the oldest are the same age as the metavolcanics, 1.90 to 1.88 billion years old. The Zinkgruvan deposit is situated in an east-west striking synclinal structure. The tabular- shaped Zn-Pb-Ag orebodies occur in a 5- to 25m-thick stratiform zone in the upper part of the metavolcanic- sedimentary group. The ore deposit is about 5km long and extends to a depth of at least 1,500m below surface. One sub-vertical fault splits the ore deposit in to two major parts, the Knalla mine to the west and the Nygruvan mine to the east. In the Nygruvan mine the dip is 60° - 80°, whilst in the Knalla mine folding is extensive and partly isoclinal. Sphalerite (ZnS) and Galena (PbS) are the dominant sulphide minerals. They generally occur as mas- sive, well banded and stratiform layers between 5 to 25m thick. Metamorphism and deformation have mobilised galena into veins and fissures sub-parallel to original bedding in places. Native silver was even more mobile and is often found in small fissures. This process is called remobilization.

Exploration and Mineral Reserves Exploration is focussed on replacing depleted resources. Underground exploration drilling is required as the mine proceeds deeper into the earth. Measured and indicated resources include 14 558 kt of Lead and Zinc ore (10.2% Zn; 5.0% Pb; 105 g/t Ag) and 5 879 kt of Copper ore (0.4% Zn; 30 g/t Ag; 2.3% Cu) . Furthermore there is an estimated reserve (proven + probable) of 10 864 kt Lead and Zinc ore (9.0% Zn; 4.0% Pb; 86 g/t Ag) and 4 008 kt of Copper ore (0.5% Zn; 32 g/t Ag; 2.2% Cu) . The cut-off grades used in resource/reserve estimations are 3.8% Zn or 1.0% for Cu .

16 Mining Method Access to the underground workings is provided by two shafts (a third shaft is used for emergency and ventilation purposes only) and a ramp to the surface. Shaft P1 (-735m) is used for personel, shaft P2 (-900 m) is used for hoisting ore and waste . The (current) deepest mine level, at -1130 m, is accessible by a system of ramps. Three different mining methods are in use in the Zinkgruvan mine: Transverse Bench and Fill stoping; Double Sub-Level Mining and (modified) Avoca Mining . Vieille Montange used a cut-and-fill method , North limited changed this to panel stoping in 1995. Stope access is typically developed in the footwall from the ramp system on the upper horizon for drilling and on the lower level for mucking with (remote controlled) LHDs . This processes is applied simultaneously at multiple levels in the Nygruvan deposit .

The Cecillia deposit is thinner and a modified version of Avoca Mining is used, where rock fill is placed in the stope against the retreating blast face.

Ventilation is done using the three main shafts and several extra (ventilation only) shafts .

Research is conducted in extraction using a top down sequence rather than the current bottom up sequence, but this will require working below cemented stopes .

Processing plant The processing facilities moved from the port of Åmmeberg to the mine site when production was expanded in the ‘70s. Total processing capacity is 1.1 Mtpa for Zinc ores and 0.3 Mtpa for Copper ores. Lumps of ore are crushed to <250 mm below ground. The milling process above ground can run in a Pb-Zn and a Cu mode, processing Copper ores on a campaign basis . The resulting concentrates have a concentration of approx. 54% for Zinc and approx. 75% for Lead .

Figure: Pb-Zn grinding circuit Cu grinding circuit

Tailings can be reused as backfill, for which 2 - 4% of cement is added.

Due to problems with limited production capacity, noise and dust the current crushing and screening facilities will be replaced with better, higher capacity equivalents around 2015 .

17 Health & Safety Zinkgruvan employs 240 people, of which 25% is female. One of the main targets of Zinkgruvan is to enhance safety by stronger mine organisation. In 2009, an earthquake of 3.0 on Richter scale hit the mine. Nowadays, they have a lot more geophones to monitor movements in the earth, so they are well prepared when another earthquake will take place. Zinkgruvan performs 2 blasts a day, the hour around the blast no one is allowed to be in the mine. Every single person that enters and leaves the mine, has to check in and out. This is how the number of people down the mine is being monitored.

Environment & Sustainability The Zinkgruvan mine tries to minimise its effect on the environment. This can be seen in the backfill- ing of stopes in the mine. These are filled with waste rock or paste tailings and cement which solves two problems at once. Firstly, possible subsidence is prevented as the subsurface is stabilised by allowing the rock to support on the backfill thus reducing the stress on the surface. Secondly, material that would otherwise have been stored as waste on the surface can now be used as stope filler. This decreases tail- ing mounts and possibly harmful sulphuric material to interact with the environment. The Zinkgruvan mine takes great care in this and even uses cement with the tailings to produce a hardening paste which can be used as backfill with properties approaching concrete. Furthermore, dust emission is limited by the use of water, if need be, on the ore at the surface.

The Zinkgruvan processing plant perfectly reflects the company’s policy of affecting the environment the least as possible. The material that is classified as waste is reused as backfill in the mine. To decrease the noise and dust production and increase its capacity, the current crushing and screening facilities will be replaced by more advanced and higher capacity ones. This decreases the environmental impact and improves the durability of the plant. Another environmental friendly measure is the reuse of water from the tailings by the dedicated tailings impoundment facility. Furthermore, the commissioning of a processing plant for 0.3Mt/year copper ores in the zinc/lead ores leads to a both a higher longevity, due to increased revenue, and higher recovery of valuable minerals from the mine, thus decreasing tailings.

Marketing The Zinkgruvan is part of the bigger mining corporation Lundin Mining. As a zinc-lead-copper mine it is harder to create specific marketing campaigns about one product. Yet the bigger corporation as a whole can take point in creating an attractive and good product to sell. Lundin mining takes part in charity cases like ‘zincsaveschildren’ creating a strong brand awareness.

Innovation Zinkgruvan was the first mine in Europe to use the drift and bench mining method. Due to the higher stress at depth and a higher turnover rate Zinkgruvan was driven to develop a new mining method. This mining method is called ‘underhand mining’. Aside from an increase in production, this mining method can start right away instead of 7 years of development that is needed with the drift and bench mining method. Early development made it possible to mine lower grade material (even in economic unstable periods), which increased the recovery significantly. Due to higher stress at greater depth, Zinkgruvan installed ISS. ISS is a seismic monitoring system, which helps to increase the safety in the mine.

Efficiency The implementation of (3D) mine planning software allowed a production increase from 1.2 to 1.5 Mta. In 2007/2008, when the metal prices were high, Zinkgruvan invested in extra development for the mine. The advantage is that these days the exploration cost are lower which makes it still economical feasible. As a ramp was added to the two available shafts in 2010 production could be increased further as personnel and equipment no longer required hoisting capacity. Different mining methods are used in the different ore bodies from which they mine. In the Burkland deposit they use the underhand method where in the Cecilia deposit they use panel stopping. In some newer found orebodies they experiment with the drift and bench method. Hauling is done by a contractor.

18 Wednesday July 9 - Metso Minerals

On Wednesday we started with a company visit to Metso Minerals. After a company and product presentation, our hosts Heikki Hartikainen and Jan Jiristeg took us to the historical Sala Silvermine for an amazing lunch. After we finished our lunch we were treated to a guided tour of the Ulrica Eleonora Mine by a Dutch speaking guide. The fantastic tour took us down to 155 meters which is the level of the water in the mine. After the historical mine visit we returned to Sala for a nice dinner with our hosts.

Hosts: Heikki Hartikainen (Manager Product Training) Jan Jiresteg (Product Manager Magnetic Separation)

19 Metso Minerals

Quick Facts • Revenue: 3.070 million EUR • EBITDA: 401 million EUR • Order backlog: 1.555 million EUR • Employees 11.670 • R&D expenses: 24 million EUR • Seat: Helsinki • Listing: NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (Metso)

Introduction Metso Minerals, part of the larger Metso Corporation, is a global supplier of (mineral) processing equipment and services for the mining and construction industries. Metso Minerals makes up approxi- mately 78% of the revenue of Metso, the other 22% come from the sale of automation equipment and services. Based in Helsinki, Finland, Metso is currently active in 50 countries. Most of their sales go to emerging markets, with South-America being the largest single region in sales, overtaking Europe, which dominated sales until last year. The company name Metso means wood grouse, a bird indigenous to Finland, and refers to the days in which the company’s predecessors mainly provided equipment for the logging industry.

History Metso Corporation was formed in 1999 by the merger of Finnish companies Valmet and Rauma. At that time, Valmet specialised in equipment for the woodpulp industry, while Rauma focused on rock crushing and flow technology. Mining became a focal point for the newly formed company when it acquired Svedala Industri AB in 2001. After this, Metso grew to become one of the world’s largest sup- pliers for the process industry. In 2013 it was decided to split off the woodpulp branch (Metso Paper) from the rest of Metso, and turn it into an independent company. This new company – named Valmet after its origin – was to focus on bio-based raw material technology. This move then left Metso to fully focus on mineral processing technology.

20 Products Metso Minerals designs and manufactures mineral processing equipment. Their product line comprises everything needed for a complete processing plant (concentrator): crushing, screening, grinding, sepa- ration and conveying. This means that they also supply complete plants, usually on a turn-key basis. As a result of working for the construction industry, they also offer mobile processing units, and they are quite famous for their mobile crushers (example figure 3). While Metso is firstly a manufacturer of mineral processing equipment, services actually netted the largest revenue in 2013 (51% of total). These services naturally also include maintenance of equipment, but a major part of it comes from consultancy on for instance process design and blasting technology.

In the news In early April this year, Weir Minerals –one of Meto’s largest competitors on the US market – offered to merge with Metso. On the 16th of April, Metso’s board of directors announced that it had refused the offer, stating that it remains confident in the current course the company is taking, and that it “sees no reason to commence discussions regarding a potential combination”.

Health & Safety Metso Minerals employs 16.000 people in 50 countries, of which 280 employees work in Sala. In 2013, the LTI of Metso Minerals was 4.2. One of the countries they supply is Ukraine. With the current con- flict in Ukraine, the employees going there do get extra training, but they have not had any problems yet.

Environment & Sustainability Metso Minerals is always designing and improving their equipment on capacity, durability and reliabil- ity. The company strives for high uptimes in their products and is actively included in maintenance of their processing equipment which results in a long lifetime. The company is renowned for this durabil- ity in the mining industry. The company also offers equipment consulting as well as complete plants on a turn-key basis. The optimisation of these plants leads to higher recoveries whilst the local factors are also analysed to provide their clients with efficient plants with minimal impact on the environment.

Marketing Metso is a company that makes customer directed machinery. This means their products highly depend on the wishes of the companies they sell to. Although it seemed from our visit that the level of com- petition is quite low, they have fairly extensive marketing campaigns on their website. Intelligence and efficiency is the basis on what they sell their products to all kinds of mining and minerals processing companies. An interesting thing to note is that because of the size of their equipment most machines are being shipped in separate pieces to the customers and assembled on site.

Innovation Because every machinery is specially designed to fit the costumers wishes, no product is exactly the same. Innovation is mostly done on the existing products. Metso does not have an R&D department where new products are developed, but when someone has a good idea there is budget available most of the time, to do research on this topic. Sensor based sorting has not yet been introduced at Metso and they wait until good results are proven before they will develop systems based on this principle. Until then they try and improve their existing line of products.

Efficiency Unlike Atlas Copco, Metso does not produce their machinery centralised. They chose manufacturing close to the customer instead, limiting transportation costs. Furthermore they chose an independent dealer network rather than fully-owned sales- and service points worldwide, focusing on development rather than maintenance. Refurbishment of used machines makes them suitable for other markets and allows effective recycling. New techniques, like opti-sort are still in development and are not yet ready for full-scale production.

21 22

20 Thursday July 10 - Garpenberg, Boliden

The mines of Boliden formed a big part of our study trip, and on thursday we visited the Garpenberg Mine.

We were welcomed by Hans Jönsson and given a general presentaiton after which the group was split in two and we were given a guided tour through the mine and (brand new) mill.

Host: Hans Jönsson (Area Manager)

23 Garpenberg Mine

Quick Facts • Products: Zinc, silver, lead, copper and gold • Employees: 366 • Established: 1957 • Mining depth: 1250m • Production: 1.495 ktonnes (2013)

Introduction Mining in Garpenberg began in the early 13th century. Back then, the region produced iron, but nowa- days silver, lead and zinc are mined here. But around 800 years of mining operations in the area makes Garpenberg Sweden’s oldest mining district, with the Garpenberg mine the oldest mine in Sweden that is still in operation.

Boliden acquired the Garpenberg mine in 1957, and exploration work has since resulted in a substan- tial increase in its ore reserves. Complex ores containing zinc, copper, lead, gold and silver are mined at Garpenberg. This type of metal mix has contributed to the mine’s favourable cost position. The copper and lead concentrates are shipped to Boliden’s smelter in Rönnskär, while the zinc concentrate is shipped to Boliden’s Kokkola and Odda smelters in Finland and Norway, respectively, and to other smelters on the European mainland. An ongoing expansion will increase ore production at Garpenberg from 1.5 million tonnes to 2.5 mil- lion tonnes per annum. The expansion is carried out between 2011 and 2014, with production starting in early 2014. Full production capacity will be reached by the end of 2015.Garpenberg has approxi- mately 350 employees and employs a further 150 or thereabouts contractors. Boliden is the biggest private sector employer in Hedemora municipality, where the mine is located.

Owner and operator The Garpenberg mine is owned and operated by New Boliden, the company that was formed in 1931 from a merger of Västerbottens Gruvaktiebolag and Skellefteå Gruvaktiebolag, owners of several hold- ings in the Boliden area. Therefore, the name of the new company became Boliden. The 1930s, not widely regarded as the most prosperous decade of the past century, were regardless of global crisis a very prosperous decade for Boliden and its gold production (there seems to be a connection between global gold prices and global market crisis, but the authors of this report are not economists, and will therefore refrain from further comments). During the following decades, the mining company and the community growing around it in the sparsely populated area of northern Sweden grew and prospered, and not even some minor inter- national discord in the 1940s could halt the growth of Boliden. On the contrary, because of a global shortage of lead, Boliden developed a new, permanent facility at Laisvall, which remained the largest lead mine in Europe until 2001, when it was closed. The following 30 years were marked by further development in the mining and technologi- cal sides of business for Boliden. Some highlights are: the expansion of the Rönnskär smelter in 1949 to accommodate the increase in sulphide ore tonnages from new mining operations, the acquisition of Zinkgruvor AB, another mining company, which brought the Garpenberg mine under Boliden control, the start of operations at the Aitik mine, one of the largest copper mines in Europe, and the introduction of the Kaldo furnace (discussed in the section ‘Processing methods’) in 1976. The 1970s and 1980s were a period marked by a series of corporate takeovers, whereby Bo- liden acquired new operations in various countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. Eventually, Boliden was taken over itself in 1987, by a Swedish conglomerate called Trelleborg. In 1994 and 1995, Boliden invested heavily in the mining and smelting divisions, and enlarged the operations in, amongst other, Garpenberg, and enlarged the capacity of the electrolysis plant at Rönnskär.

24 However, after a large corporate restructuring of Trelleborg, Boliden was sold into a new company, Bo- liden Limited, which was headquartered at Toronto, and starting in 1997 Boliden Ltd. stock was being traded on the Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges. However, in 1999 Boliden reorganised and was listed on the Stockholm stock exchange and moved back to Sweden in 2001, and stock were now being traded on O-list (the primary listing on the SSE). In 2003, Boliden acquired mining and smelting assets from Outokumpu, a Finnish company, in- cluding smelters in Finland and Norway and the Tara lead and zinc mine in Ireland, thus creating New Boliden. New Boliden sold of several assets in North America that we acquired in the years it was head- quartered in Toronto, and invested in operations in Europe, most notably: investment of 5.2 billion SEK (appr. 520 million euro) in Aitik, effectively doubling yearly production, expanding e-scrap capacity at Rönnskär, and expanding productivity at Garpenberg from 1.4 million tonnes to 2.5 million tonnes per year, set to be reached in 2015. Currently, Boliden is also starting up the Kankberg mine, a gold and tellurium mine in the Boliden area that should start production in 2020, which would be Boliden’s 5th gold mine.

Geology The Garpenberg deposit is hosted in the felsic to intermediate Svecofennian metavolcanic-metasedimentary back-arc deposits deformed during the Svecokarelian orogeny (at1.9- 1.8 Ga), and intruded extensively by the “early” granites (1.95-1.86 Ga) and less voluminous “late” granites. Host rocks at Garpenberg are a proximal (or domal) rhyolitic pumice-breccia, underlain by rhyolitic ash-siltstones. Small dacite intrusions, mafic volcanics, and a stromatolitic limestone-marble horizon are also present as mappable units and it is within the margins of the 10-80 metre thick marble unit that essentially all of the known mineralisation at Garpenberg is focused on, with the exception of the lower grade Zone C in the Lappberget orebody. Locally, a large syncline controls mineralisation and in the past at Garpenberg most of the ore has been removed from parasitic tight fold hinges on both limbs of the syncline; current exploration is directed towards larger structures and possibly larger ore bodies inside the syncline.

Mineral Reserves Mineral reserves at Garpenberg increased by almost 11 Mtonnes as a result of the upgrading of the Kvarnberget mineral resource. New mineral resources were identified during drilling at Kvarnberget and the mineral resources’ grades were shown to have been overestimated. Exploration has, at the same time, yielded an extra 6 Mtonnes of mineral resources, but the upgrading of 11 Mtonnes to mineral reserves means a reduction in mineral resources.

2013 2012 Au g/t Ag g/t Cu % Zu % Pb % Kton Kton Proven 14900 15400 0.3 116 0.06 5.5 2.2 Probable 21400 10200 0.3 143 0.04 3.9 1.7

1.5 million tonnes of ore were mined at Garpenberg during the year of 2013. The mineral reserves in- creased to 36.3 million tonnes (25.6 Mtonnes), while mineral resources fell to 36.3 million tonnes (44.5 Mtonnes). Drilling and updating has reduced the average grades of both the reserves and the resources.

Mining Method Garpenberg has remained a shaft hoisting operation. Mining is by cut and fill, taking 5m slices from stopes 50m to 300m long up to 15m wide. The lowermost cut is filled with a waste rock over a concrete floor where extra support is required. Thereafter either plain or cemented tailings pumped from the surface are used as backfill in the stopes and the water is drained off.

25 Health & Safety Garpenberg employs 380 people, plus there are more than 150 employees from contractors. The LTI of Garpenberg was around 3 in 2013, their target is to make the LTI 0. After a big renovation, a lot of the transport can be done by using the shafts instead of trucks, which makes transport a lot safer. Every single person that enters and leaves the mine, has to check in and out. This is how the number of people down the mine is monitored.

Environment & Sustainability As a result of the major overhaul that the Garpenberg operation has just undergone, its environmental footprint has significantly decreased. Besides the efficiency gains in energy and water use obtained by opening a new concentrator, moving the main industrial site has also had a large effect. Before building the new concentrator, trucks were used to get the ore from the main hoisting shaft to the old concentra- tor. For this the trucks had to drive around the lake situated directly between the old industrial site and the hoist shaft. Because the new concentrator is situated next to the main hoist shaft, this is no longer necessary. Waste management is also a focal point at Garpenberg. 80% Of the water used in the new concentrator is reused, while up to 50% of the waste rock finds a second life as backfill material.

Marketing All the products of Boliden Garpenberg are marketed by the Boliden conglomerate and customers can be found across the globe. The Garpenberg mine has the distinct advantage of being the most modern mine in the world (as of 2014), and this feature is used in marketing, as being ‘the mine of the future’. Transport of the various concentrates is by trucks to a nearby port, where the concentrates are shipped to the Rönnskär smelter and other smelters across Scandinavia and mainland Europe.

Innovation Innovation at Garpenberg is done on two fronts, namely on the safety and development front. The ob- jective of Boliden is to minimise the Long Term Injuries at Garpenberg. The innovation at the develop- ment front focuses on expansion projects. They just realised an expansion project which includes a new shaft and industrial area. This shaft and industrial area lie much closer to the current ore body which reduces transportation costs. The new shaft is also close to a new production area, which includes a new part in the ore body that has not been mined before. These expansion projects ensure the long term future of the Garpenberg mine.

The mill was built as a part of the new industrial area and reached full production in less than six months. All mills, flotation tanks and concentrators are all linked together in a computer system de- signed by ABB. A very innovative feature of the plant is the online XRD/XRF which gives the operator a good indication of the grade of the material that is going into the plant, and gives a real time evalua- tion of the efficiency of all the recovery operations.

Efficiency Can it get more efficient? Yes. This state of the art facility, that was not even officially opened when we visited, is now running just under its planned capacity. But engineers are already planning on how to extend the capacity within the limits of the plant, therefore making it even more efficient. Potential capacity loss due to unforeseen problems with the new plant is kept at a minimum by having the old plant at standby for around six months before decommissioning it. Although most efficiency improvements come from the energy demanding machines, reducing the amount of (human) meetings and conferences from one every day to one every week turned out to be very effective.

26 Build your career with a long established and trusted resources industry private equity investment partner.

RCF seeks mining technical people with strong intellect, a passion for the industry, and a proven interest in financial aspects, to build the next generation of the firm’s investment professionals.

RCF is a private equity investor specialising in mining with a diverse range of global wide projects. A trusted and experienced partner, RCF provides high quality technical and financial expertise to help resources companies to succeed.

Operating for nearly two decades, RCF has experienced the cyclical nature of commodity markets and despite the ups and downs, is proud to provide its partners with patient and long-term support.

RCF has invested in around 120 private and public mining companies across a broad range of minerals, stages of development and locations. A sixth investment fund, with committed capital of $2.04 billion, is currently being invested in new resources opportunities.

RCF’s principal office is in Denver, Colorado and additional offices in Perth, Australia, New York, Toronto, London and Santiago. For more information about Resource Capital Funds please visit www.resourcecapitalfunds.com

27 Weekend, some free time

28 Sunday and Monday July 13, 14 - Kiruna, LKAB

After a weekend of travel and leisure the second week of the study trip kicked off with a visit to LKAB’s Kiruna Mine. On Sunday evening we arrived at the LKAB office in Kiruna and were given a presentation by Christina Dahner-Lindkvist.

On Monday we started with a tour of the visitors centre of LKAB. After lunch we went by bus to the Svappavaara area and were given a tour of some of the smaller open pit mines. Namely Gruvberget and Leveniemi.

Hosts: Anders Holstenson (Operational Manager) Christina Dahner-Lindkvist (Senior Researcher)

29 Kiruna Mine and Plant

Quick Facts Ownership: LKAB Mining method: Sublevel caving Reserves: Total proven and probable: 797 Mt Fe Depth: 1365 m(current main level) Production 25.2 Mt (2013) Employees: 2100 Openened 1898 Processing Concentration and pelletization Annual turnover: 22 billion SEK (2.4 billion EUR)

Introduction The Kiruna Mine is the largest underground iron ore mine in the world. The mine is located in and under the mountain Kirunavaara, Mining operations, on a small scale, began more or less directly after the ‘colonisation’ of Lapland by Sweden, because the potential of the deposits near Kirunavaraa was already known by the indigenous Sami (Kirunavaraa in Samish language means ‘iron mountain). The so-called Luossavaraa-Kirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) was founded in 1890 to exploit the deposits in both Kiruna and Malmberget. The town of Kiruna was founded to inhabit the miners and their fami- lies.

Location & Geology The Kiruna Mine is situated in Northern Lapland. This made it initially inaccessible, but the construc- tion of the so-called Malmbanan railway line between Lulea and Narvik via Malmberget and Narvik offered the opportunity to transport the iron ore to the rest of the world. Since the Baltic Sea usually freezes during the winter the connection to the Atlantic Ocean via the port of Narvik is crucial to ensure ore-shipments throughout the year. The Malmbanan is considered to be one of the most scenic railways in the world. The Kiruna ore body was formed at around 1,600Ma following intense volcanic activity with the precipitation of iron-rich solutions on to a syenite porphyry footwall. The ore bed was then covered by further volcanic deposits (quartz porphyry) and sedimentary rocks before being tilted to its current dip of 50-60°. The ore contains a very pure magnetite-apatite mix, containing more than 60% iron and an average of 0.9% phosphorus. In the mineralisation two different ore types can be distinguished. These are called the black and grey ores. Black ore contains less apatite than grey ore. The original reserve at Kiruna was some 1,800Mt. As of the end of 2008, LKAB estimated that the current proven reserve at the mine is 602Mt grading 48.5% iron, with probable reserves of 82Mt at 46.7% iron. Measured, indi- cated and inferred resources add a further 328Mt-plus to the inventory, with exploration continuing to identify further resources at depth.

30 Mining Process Initially the ore reserve was relatively easily accessible because the mountain of Kirunavaraa was part of the deposit in itself, and after these reserves had been mined the deposit continued close to the surface, making it suitable for surface mining. From the 1960’s onwards the mine became an underground mine however, and sublevel caving has been applied ever since. From the shaft a main level is excavated in the foot wall, and from here the deposit is mined. Every day after midnight all personnel leaves the mine and part of the deposit is blasted. During the day the ore is excavated and crushed for transport in the mine. Ore is transported by unmanned trains through the main level to the shaft, where it is hoisted to the surface for further processing and transport to the ports. A new main level has to be constructed when most of the deposit above it has been mined (see picture). The next main level is expected to be completed in 2017. Rock in the hanging wall subsides due to the excavation of the deposit; this leads to subsidence of the surface as well.

Prospects Only one third of the known deposit has been mined so far. With demand for iron ore remaining high and considering the high grade of Kiruna ore no end to mining operations at Kiruna is yet in sight, especially since the profit of around 10 billion SEK (around 1 billion euro) each year is welcomed by the Swedish state, who owns LKAB. This has consequences for the town of Kiruna, since it is located on the surface of the hanging wall. With regard to the construction of the new main level the town is relocated to safer areas, with the rail- and motorway already being reconstructed on the surface of the foot wall.

Ore processing Ore processing at Kiruna consists of two stages: concentration and pellet production. The mined ore is first processed in a concentrator at the mine. There the ore is crushed, and any waste rock included in the ore stream is removed using density separation. The concentrate is then mixed with water into a slurry and sent to the pelletizing plant where it is pelletised. Pellets are ball-shaped agglomerations of fine iron ore and certain additives, and can be directly used in a blast furnace. Pelletizing is done at Kiruna since 1964, when the first plant was opened. In 2008 the third pelletizing plant (at nearby Svap- pavaara) went into operation. The concentrator and pelletizing plants are all owned and operated by LKAB.

31 To produce these pellets, the ore is first crushed and then milled to a fine powder. In this stage the ore is called fines. Some of these fines are sold separately to specific clients. To use these fines in blast furnac- es, they then first need to be sintered to larger pieces, or mixed and rolled to form balls – or pellets. To form pellets, first the ore must be dewatered. It is then mixed with bentonite – the binder – and certain additives that play an important role in the smelting process, such as olivine and lime. This mixture of fines, binder and additives is then reshaped in rotating drums to form balls with a diameter of around 12 mm, called green balls. These green balls are then heat-treated in a conveyer belt. First, the pellets will be heated to temperatures around 1000 to 1120 °C, then to 1250°C. After being heated, they are cooled. The final pellets contain about 67% iron.

Role in WWII 90% of iron mined by LKAB in the 1930’s and 1940’s was exported to Nazi-Germany, making it the most important supplier of iron ore for the German war economy. For this reason the Kiruna mine (together with the smaller mines at Luossavaraa and Malmberget) became of crucial strategic impor- tance at the outbreak of WWII. German concerns that the UK would intercept iron ore shipments, and perhaps even seize the Swedish mines, led to the invasion and occupation of Denmark and Norway in early 1940 by Nazi-Germany.

Health & Safety LKAB employs 4200 people in Sweden and in the harbour of Narvik in Norway . The Kiruna mine is known as one of the most modern mines in the world, and therefore has good safety standards. There is a big visitors centre in the Kiruna-mine, which gives inhabitants of the Kiruna area and tourists a good view on the mining activities. By using dynamic rock bolts, LKAB suffers less from incidents with unstable roofs.

Environment & Sustainability Kiruna is a known place in the mining industry because of the mine’s interference with the town. The town is situated on the hanging wall of the mine and therefore it must be replaced in stages. This could only be done because it is a miners town. Without the mine, Kiruna wouldn’t exist. Now they’ve already moved the railway line because of deformation at the old location of the railway and the access road to the mine is moved. In 2018 the City Hall will be moved and in 2023 the whole town centre will be somewhere else.

LKAB does other things for sustainability as well. They have electrical business cars and they shut down the whole ventilation system of the office building during the weekend in the summer holiday. They use Australian coals because they are cleaner. They use natural gas for the processing instead of coals so they can produce “Green pellets”. Lastly they use electrical trains to transport their products to the harbours. When these trains go downhill they will actually generate electricity that is used to keep the train going.

32 Marketing LKAB has a distinct vision; it intends to explore and exploit Sweden’s iron ore reserves, no less and no more. This gives LKAB a unique position within Europe; approximately 98% of Europe’s iron produc- tion comes from Sweden, and Europe’s iron ore production is therefore predominantly taken care of by LKAB. On a world scale however, only 3% of world iron ore production comes from LKAB. LKAB exports its products across the globe, with offices all over the world. This is a deliberate marketing strategy, when Europe is in crisis LKAB is still able to maintain production levels by exporting more to China for example.

The LKAB iron ore pellets have an iron component of 67% and enjoy a worldwide reputation as being one of the best ores of the world. This reputation is used in marketing, together with a focus on envi- ronmental friendly production techniques. For this reason, LKAB names its pellets ‘green pellets’. Fur- thermore, LKAB emphasises its high standards of work safety and development, and its involvement in local activities.

Innovation LKAB has a big R&D department that mainly focuses on iron making and pelletizing. For the mine there are also a lot of R&D topics, for example gravity flow research. This includes how the blast works, fragmentation, flow of rock and so on. When data is available on this subject, the recovery can be in- creased and the waste inflow can be reduced. They are also working on a technique to get a 3D image of every bucket with material that goes to the surface. At first they want to get an insight of the fragmentation in the particles, but more applications of the 3D imaging are under investigation. Another very important matter of research is the monitoring and understanding of the subsidence at ground level and the seismic events associated with the subsidence. A better understanding of the stress state at depth will increase the operating safety in the mine.

Efficiency Unlike many present day mining companies LKAB is more or less self-sufficient: where others would have contractors, LKAB services itself. From special rock bolts via machinery maintenance to railway transportation, everything is done in a LKAB sister company. A lot of research is conducted understanding the true effects of the mining methods. For the loader it is a long used practice to estimate the ore/waste ratio based on the density. What was not known is where the ore or waste rock had actually come from. Using markers, positioned in between the drill holes it was possible to determine where the current draw of ore originated from. Based on this data a model could be made to estimate and predict the flow of crushed rock down the cave. The size distribution can be analyzed (live) using stereo photography. As the mine became seismic active in 2008, the slow but continuous subsidence became more evident. Multiple radar beacons for space based radar systems and more than 300 ground based GPS stations al- low precise monitoring of the surface movement. Furthermore seismic measurements were conducted in all production holes, allowing the analysis of possible patterns in seismic data, resulting in more accurate predictions. As seismic activity cannot be controlled, it does not influence the current mine planning.

33 Tuesday July 15- Aitik, Boliden

On Tuesday the second Boliden mine was scheduled, Aitik. On arrival Peter Palo gave a short presentation and following that it was time for a tour of the mine. Af- ter our busses were equipped with safety flags we were allowed to drive in the enormous mine behind our host. The mine tour was followed by a lunch and a tour of the mill.

Hosts: Matti Linna (Mill Manager) Peter Palo (Mine Production Service Manager)

34 Aitik Mine

Quick Facts • Ownership: Boliden • Product: Copper, silver and gold • Location: Gällivare, Sweden • Current production rate: • Ore: 37.070 ktonnes • Copper: 70.861 ktonnes • Silver: 53.612 kg • Gold: 1.765 kg • Start of production: 1968 • Mining Method: Open pit • Employees: 672

Introduction Aitik is the biggest copper mine within Europe. Aitik is also the most efficient open pit copper mine in the world. It’s situated in the very north of Sweden outside the town Gällivare above the arctic circle and employees almost 700 people. The open pit is 3 km long, 1.1 km wide and 450 metres deep, so far. Aitik is also the home of world’s largest machines. Rock trucks can weigh 570 tonnes when fully loaded. There are shovels with buckets that can hold up to 45 cubic meters of rock, wheel loaders that weigh 190 tonnes and drilling machines that weigh 181 tonnes and drill depths of 16 meters. The deposit was already discovered at the beginning of the 1930’s, but its exploitation only became pos- sible in the 1960’s thanks to the modern mining equipment and technology. The mining capacity is now gradually turned up since the large Aitik Expansion in 2010, to reach a record level of 36 million tonnes ore per year from 2014 and on.

Owner, operator The owner of Aitik mine is New Boliden which has ninety years of experience with mining. The com- pany was founded in 1924 when gold was discovered at Fågelmyran.

Geology The Aitik mine’s orebody is hosted by a basin of volcanic rocks surrounded by granitic intrusions within a supracrustal metamorphosed shear zone of Precambrian age. Biotite schists in the volcanic sequence contain disseminated chalcopyritic mineralisation averaging less than 0.40% copper, as well as gold and silver values. The geology of the Aitik mine can be dived in three different zones, the hanging wall, the ore zone and the footwall. The hanging wall is made of one unit of strongly banded hornblende gneisses. It is finely banded with alternating olive green and light grey layers and together it is more than 250 meters thick. The ore zone can be sub dived into three groups, a muscovite schist, a biotite schist and biotite gneisses. These three zones are heavily deformed and altered which conceals their primary character. Because of their chemical character can be assumed that it has a magmatic precursor. Knowledge from areas out- side the mine shows that it has a volcaniclastic origin. The ore zone mainly dips about 45° to the west. The muscovite schist is the upper part of the ore zone and is estimated to be 200 meters thick. The layer shows an sharp contact with the overlying hornblende gneiss and colours light buff. Mainly sulphite minerals can be found in this layer, 15-20 %. The most common sulphides are pyrite en chalco- pyrite, 5-7 %. The ratio chalcopyrite:pyrite is ranging from 1:2 to 1:7. In the top of the muscovite schist layer there is a sulphide rich zone with 20-25 % sulphides, this zone is about 5 to 40 meters thick. In the northern part of the pit the gold and copper grades increases.

35 The biotite schist, the middle layer of the ore zone, has an average thickness of 150 meters. It is strongly foliated and sheared in a roughly north south direction. Pyrite and Chalcopyrite appear in equal vol- umes. Magnetite occurs as fine dissemination with grains commonly enclosed within amphibole and/ or garnet porphyroblasts. Although not always present the lower part of the ore zone consist of Biotite gneisses. They commonly display zones of red garnet and more gneissic, coarser-grained character than the strongly foliated biotite schist. The footwall consist mostly of a quartz monzodioritic intrusive, there are also other intrusives that mat- ter, the pegmatite dykes which cross cut the hanging wall, the ore zone and the footwall. The quartz monzodiorite is the dominant rock in the footwall and can be up to 600 meters thick. The quartz monzodiorite contains plagioclase phenocrysts being up to 7–9 mm in size. The plagioclase show compositional zoning. The mineralisation is dominated by fracture controlled pyrite - chalcopyrite -Molybdenum disulphide, but finely disseminated sulphides are also present. A minor mineral is epidote which can contain chalcopyrite.

The pegmatite dykes are mainly thin with a maximum with of 40 meter. Their distri- bution is varied within the mine area with the largest frequency of the dykes in and around the hanging wall contact, where they are unmineralised. At the hanging wall contact, they are oriented roughly North - South and dip about 60° to the west. In the main ore zone, the pegmatite dykes occur less frequently, and one series of the dykes show a North - North West orientation and a steep dip.

Mining at Aitik started on the basis of a 50t reserve, but by 1998 the mine had yielded 300t of ore. As of November 2009, ore reserves were 747t grading at 0.25% of copper, 0.14g per tonne of gold, 1.7g per tonne silver, and 29g per tonne molybdenum. Proven and probable ore reserves amount to 518t and 229t, respectively. Measured and indicated re- sources were estimated at 1.37t.

Mineral Reserves The deposit consists of chalcopyrite and pyrite yielding copper, gold and silver. The ore grade is very low. What makes the ore profitable is the grand scale and fast and rational operation. One tonne of ore contains 99 percent of waste. After smelting the concentrated ore, there will be roughly 2 kg of copper, 2 g of silver and 0.1 g of gold left. After extracting these metals the company is left with large amounts of waste rock. Much of this waste rock becomes a commercial product as well, used in the construction of roads and as ballast material in cement. It’s calculated that the production can continue until 2029, even though they’ve doubled the production rate to 36 billion tons per year.

Mining method The mining process consists of a few stages: drilling, blasting and haulage of material via trucks. The process starts with a drill plan lay out. This plan is then transferred to the actual drill rigs. When the holes are drilled, it’s charging time. To achieve the required rock fragmentation it’s very important that the holes are detonated in the right order with slightly delayed intervals. Then it’s time for loading the trucks with the biggest excavator, 80 tons per bucket. The biggest trucks can have more than 300 tons per load. These trucks and excavators run day and night. After loading the ore is crushed until all pieces are smaller than 40 centimetres. The crushed ore is transported by a conveyer belt that stretches for 7 kilometres. Then the ore reaches the main store facility next to the processing plant, where they extract the copper from the rock.

36 Boliden’s Aitik Plant

Quick Facts • Ownership: Boliden • Feed: Copper, silver and gold • Location: Gällivare, Sweden • Start of processing: 1968 • Employees: 672

Introduction This processing plant is relatively new, it was inaugurated in 2010. This modern processing plant with new infrastructure and logistics solution strengthens Aitik’s market position as one of the most pro- ductive and efficient mines. The expansion of Aitik with this processing plant will increase both mine production and lifetime. This year’s production level is expected to be 36 million tonnes of ore per year.

Owner, operator The Aitik Processing plant is a part of the Aitik Copper mine. This means that Boliden is, just like with the mine, the owner and operator of the plant.

Feed and products The ore is a porphyry type deposit which consists of chalcopyrite and pyrite yielding copper, gold and silver. The finished copper concentrate, which is shipped to the smelter, consist of 28% copper, 8 gram per ton gold and 250 gram per ton silver.

Processing method The processing plant at Aitik contains the following processing machines and processes. The first step in the process is an autogenous and ball mill were the ore is milled and grinded and this is followed by conventional flotation, the system design being typically ‘Boliden’. It was enhanced by the installation of Microcel flotation columns. The new AG mills supplied by Metso are the largest in the world, each with a grinding capacity of 2,200t per hour. They are fed with run of mill sized minus 400mm that are delivered from a stockpile with a capacity to store 200,000t. The ore is transported via a 7km-long conveyor system. About 3.5km of the conveyor runs underground from the old in-pit crusher and a new semi-mobile in-pit crusher installed at a depth of 285m within the mine. Another semi-mobile in-pit crusher was installed on the surface between the Aitik pit and the Salmijärvi satellite pit where waste stripping is processed. After the flotation step, the mixture is thickened and dewatered and transported to the concentration plant, where the ore is concentrated and stored. The Aitik mine’s entire operations are controlled by ABB’s 800xA automation system. The centrally -lo cated control system automatically regulates belt speed depending on the ore supply. The expansion has raised the mine’s throughput to match its higher output. Pressure filtered concentrate is transported in purpose-designed containers to Boliden’s Rönnskär smelter at Skelleftehamn on the Baltic coast, 400km from the mine site. In the picture below you can see a short summary of the mining and processing steps that are taken at the Aitik Mine and Processing Plant

37 Figure: Process Overview

Health & Safety Aitik employs around 600 people, of which 25% is female. In 2013, the LTI of Aitik was 7.8. At Aitik they believe it is their social responsibility to create a safe work environment. The equipment in the Aitik mine runs on electricity, to decrease environmental damage.

Environment & Sustainability Beside the sought-after chalcopyrite and precious metals, the Aitik ore body also contains acid form- ing minerals, mainly pyrite. In the concentrator this leads to slightly decreased pH levels of the process water. To restore the pH of this water, lime is added. In this way, the acidity of the tailings pond is also regulated. The concentrator focuses only on the copper-ore. No leaching of gold takes place - thus no cyanide is used - and it is considered a by-product of the copper concentrate. The tailings pond at Aitik is massive and spans over 13 km2. This large surface area means that water in the pond evaporates rapidly in the dry summer time. As a result, dust formation can be a real problem. To counteract this, water sprays have been set up around the pond to keep the pond surface moist during summer.

38 Marketing Boliden strives to be a market leader among medium-sized base metals companies by offering high quality metals and supplying efficient logistics solutions and product customization. Boliden’s metals are mainly sold and transported by rail, sea, or road to industrial customers in Europe. The largest part of their zinc customers are large steelworks which use zinc to protect steel from cor- rosion when manufacturing galvanised thin sheets. The second largest customer category comprises companies that hot dip galvanise piece goods. The majority of their copper customers are manufactur- ers of wire rod, copper rods and copper alloys who, in turn, sell their products to the construction, elec- tronics and automotive industries.

Innovation Most innovation done at Aitik is targeted at the efficiency. Because the grade of copper is low, any gains in efficiency will increase profit. Some innovation has been done for instance on the truck hauling, for which the MineStar system is used.

Efficiency Having very low copper grades, all profit must come from efficiency. Hauling is limited to the lower levels of the mine, as transportation to ground level is done by a conveyor running upwards through a tunnel. This limits the time and distance trucks need to drive uphill, making them more available and reducing fuel cost. The processing plant is only a few years older than the brand new one at Garpenberg. It is a ‘standard Boliden set-up’. Having such a default architecture makes designing new plants a lot easier and may even have interchangeable parts with other plants. (One of the old mills moved from Aitik to Garpen- berg after refurbishment.)

39 Wednesday July 16 - Björkdalsgruvan

This day a visit to Bjorkdalsgruvan was planned. This gold was an exception to the other mines in the sense that it was never before visited by a SME-TMS Study Trip. Bjorkdalsgruvan is a gold mine that is mined open pit and underground. Due to the vacation period we were only able to visit the open pit and followed that by a visit through the processing plant.

After our visit there was time for aa part of the group to visit the open air ropeway museum.

Host: Per Jannert (Mine Manager)

40 Björkdalsgruvan Mine

Quick Facts Ownership: Björkdalsgruvan Product: Gold Location: Kåge, Sweden Production rate: 1.3 Mt ore per year Mining Method: Open-pit, underground and previous heaps Employees: 160

Introduction The Björkdalsgruvan mine is an open pit gold mine at approximately 40 km west of Skellefteå in Vaster- botten. Björkdalsgruvan currently has 550 hectares of land space. The Björkdalsgruvan mine employ- ees about 160 people. In 1987 rumours began on a new gold mine in that area. Terra Mining invested in the new discovery near the village Björkdal. In 25 years a prosperous business, Björkdalsgruvan AB has emerged.

Ownership The production at Björkdalsgruvan began at 1988 driven by Terra Mining AB. In 2003 Irish Minmet became the majority owner and expanded the open pit. The Canadian exploration company Gold-ore Resources Ltd. signed an option to acquire the mine in 2006. And in 2008 they acquired all shares, starting the underground exploration of Björkdalsgruvan. In May 2012 Elgin Mining Inc. merged with Gold-Ore Resources Ltd. Björkdalsgruvan is at this mo- ment owned by Elgin Mining, making it a well-funded, growth-oriented, gold producing company.

Geology The Björkdal gold deposit is situated in the eastern part of the Paleoproterozoic Skellefte district in northern Sweden. The Skellefte district constitutes a 1.89 to 1.88 Ga volcanic arc with numerous vol- canic massive sulfide deposits and lode gold deposits of which the Björkdal deposit is the largest, at ca. 20 Mt with 2.5 g/t Au. The gold at Björkdal is associated with centimeter- to meter-wide, subvertical quartz veins at the north- western contact between a quartz-monzodioritic to tonalitic intrusion and the surrounding supracrus- tal rocks. The main quartz veins strike north-northeast, and a minor set of veins strike east-northeast. The quartz veins terminate against a major thrust duplex at the contact between the intrusion and the structurally overlying supracrustal rocks. The mylonitic thrust zone has a 20° to 40° dip toward north and trends approximately east-west. A few kinematic observations indicate reverse to obliquely reverse slip on the thrust. Deformed quartz veins exist in lithons between thrusts within the duplex. In the mine, the quartz veins in the footwall to the thrust are spatially and temporally associated with mod- erately to steeply west dipping reverse shear zones with a northeast strike. It is suggested here that the quartz veins and the steep reverse shear zones are related to the thrust duplex and formed more or less simultaneously. Fluid inclusion and isotopic results from previous studies indicate that juvenile magmatic fluids were responsible for the precipitation of quartz and sulfides at moderate temperatures and pressures. Fur- thermore, titanites from the quartz veins give ages of ca. 1.78 to 1.79 Ga, whereas the host pluton is dat- ed at ca. 1.90 Ga, indicating a time gap of over 100 m.y. between the emplacement of the host rock and titanite growth in quartz veins. The regional deformation and metamorphism are poorly constrained in the area to sometime between 1.87 and 1.80 Ga. As the quartz veins are virtually undeformed and do not exhibit metamorphic fluid inclusions or other evidence of premetamorphic origin, we interpret the titanite ages in the quartz veins as the age of emplacement of the veins. The ca. 1.78 to 1.79 Ga age is also constrained for the crustal-scale, north-south–striking shear zones in the area, and it is suggested here that the thrust duplex and steep reverse shear zones in the mine are third-order structures related to east-west shortening at ca. 1.80 Ga.

41 Gravity data from the Björkdal area indicate the presence of a less dense body at depth beneath the Björkdal pluton. The geophysical signature is best explained by the presence of a 1.80 Ga Skellefte-type intrusion at depth. Magmatic fluids from this S-type granite may have interacted with the host pluton and precipitated gold in the more competent pluton during the east-west shortening. The common oc- currence of scheelite in the quartz veins is further evidence for magmatic fluids derived from a younger pluton at depth. (Source: Pär Weihed, Jeanette Bergman Weihed, and Peter Sorjonen-Ward; Structural Evolution of the Björkdal Gold Deposit, Skellefte District, Northern Sweden: Implications for Early Proterozoic Meso- thermal Gold in the Late Stage of the Svecokarelian OrogenEconomic Geology, , v. 98, p. 1291-1309) The sheeted veins is about 1,5 kilometers wide and in 2009 45 minable veins were known. The main product of themine is gold, but there are also traes of silver and tellurium.

Mineral Reserves Of the total 2700 tons of gold that is mined worldwide, Bjorkdalgruvan take account for 5-7 tons of this total each year. Elgin Mining published an updated mineral resource and reserve estimate in August 2013 for the Björkdal Mine, incorporating all drill data up to April 23, 2013 and all chip samples from up to December 12, 2012. Shown in the table below, the updated reserves demonstrate that the Björkdal Mine is a long-life asset with current reserves capable of supporting another 8 years of mining.

Resource*** Open Pit Underground Totals**** Tonnes* Grade* Ounces Tonnes** Grade** Ounces Tonnes Grade Ounces x1000 (g/t) x1000 x1000 (g/t) x1000 x1000 (g/t) x1000 Measured 51.8 1.65 2,746 162 2.42 12,624 213.8 2.23 15,370 Indicated 6,469 1.10 229,611 10,976 2.17 765,319 17,445 1.77 994,930 Measured 6,521 1.11 232,357 11,139 2.17 777,944 17,660 1.78 1,010,301 and indicated

Inferred 2,216.4 1.57 111,907 9,003 2.21 640,972 11,219.4 2.08 752,879

* Calculated using a 0.32 g/t cutoff ** Calculated using a 0.60 g/t cutoff

Reserve**** Open Pit Underground Tonnes* Grade* Ounces Tonnes** Grade** Ounces x1000 (g/t) x1000 x1000 (g/t) x1000 Proven 49.6 1.48 2,366 36.2 2.02 2,357 Probable 5,454.4 1.04 182,858 2,054.7 2,07 136,732 Proven and 5,504 1.05 185,224 2,090.9 2.07 139,089 probable

42 * Calculated using a 0.32 g/t cutoff ** Calculated using a 0.60 g/t cutoff

*** Gold Price $1500/Oz USD; Adjusted for January, February and March 2013 production; Strip Ratio 4.5; 25% dilution **** Totals may differ due to rounding

Mining Method At the Björkdalsgruvan mine they use various methods of mining. Open pit and underground are the most important. A third way to mine gold is the usage of previous heaps. The open pit mine has a surface of approximately 50 acres, the underground mine consists of about 25 kilometers of tunnels, spread over nine levels. The deepest level lays at 305 meters down. The start of the underground mining in 2008 is what made the company successful again after their bankruptcy in 1999. Above ground they still mine annually about 650000 tonnes of ore, and approxi- mately 2 million tonnes of waste rock.

Health & Safety Björkdalsgruvan employs 160 people, which made it the smallest mine of our study trip. Every employ- ee and contractor undergoes work environment training which is obligatory for everyone who works at Björkdalsgruvan. In total 400 - 500 people have done the training and there have not been any serious accidents in years. At Björkdalsgruvan a good safety environment is stimulated by positively stimulat- ing the workforce when they submit an incident of near-accident.

Environment & Sustainability At Björkdalsgruvan, the ore body consists of a quartzite that contains native gold. Even though part of the gold is connected to pyrite or tellurium, the sulfur content of the ore is very low (0.018% – 0.1%). This means that the mine does not have to deal with acid mine drainage. This also means that the tailings are relatively inert, which why they can be recycled as aggregate for the construction industry. However, as there is no market for this material at present, there is still a need for tailings ponds. These are positioned such that they are isolated from any population centers. Because the gold in the ore body is in metallic form, no harmful reagents such as cyanide (see Boliden plant) are necessary to extract the gold from the ore. All these factors combined mean that Björkdals- gruvan poses only minor environmental risks, and as such is classified as one of the cleanest mines in Europe.

Marketing There are worldwide gold markets into which Björkdalsgruvan can sell and, as a result, it is not depend- ent on a particular purchaser with regards to the sale of the gold which it produces. Their main marketing campaign involves the production of ‘clean gold’. They claim to be one of the cleanest mines in the world. Besides proclaiming to be one of the cleanest, statements like “good team- work”, “a bright future” and “a stable workforce” are putting them on the maps of potential customers. By use of their company magazine Björkdal has established a great marketing medium.

Innovation The challenges for Björkdalsgruvan mine lie partially in the simultaneous operation of an underground mine and an open pit. There must be a constant feedback between the two operations to make sure they do not interfere with each other. Because the gold mined here is present in recognizable quartz veins, the blasts have to be carried out with a high degree of control, to make a pre-separation by visual inspection of the shovel operator possible. In the Björkdalsgruvan mill an ongoing innovation project is being carried out with a Vibratory Crusher, a new type of cone crusher currently under development by Sandvik.

43 Efficiency Björkdalsgruvan changed their human resources policy, taking more within their own control to ac- tively influence and grow their human capital. In this case efficiency is pushing a relatively old plant to new limits, leaving nothing of its original design behind. Today’s gold price made it even possible go further as an underground mine, with entrances in the bot- tom of the open pit they make it possible to get there without a shaft. Following the thin quartz veins underground they will extract more and more gold.

44 Thursday July 17 - Boliden Office andö R nnskär Smelter

On this last day of the study trip we visited the Rönnskär Smelter in the morning and were given a presentation and guided tour of the copper line by Linn Andersson. After lunch we visited the Boliden Office where we were given some presentations by Jeroen van Eldert and Stephen Manning. Afterwards we got a tour of the Boliden mill by Jennifer Andersson.

At the end of the afternoon it was time for some relaxation with our hosts Jeroen and Stephen at the Svansele park, where we had a nice dinner and sauna.

Hostess Rönnskär: Linn Andersson (Environmental Manager) Hosts Boliden Office: Jeroen van Eldert (Mining Engineer) Stephen Manning` (Manager Mine Planning and Surveying) Hostess Boliden Mill: Jennifer Andersson (Process Engineer)

45 Boliden Office and Mill

Brief history and introduction: In 1924 gold was found at fågelmyran which led to a gold rush in the Boliden area. Due to World War one there was a metal shortage which led to explorations in the metal rich field of Skellefteå. Banks financed highly speculative holding companies to invest in mines and joint ventures in the area. Then in 1931 two such companies merged and became Boliden. More on the history of Boliden can be read on page 24.

The Boliden head office is located in Stockholm. The Boliden Group consists of six mines in Sweden and one in Ireland, six processing facilities in Scandinavia and Boliden has marketing offices in Swe- den, Germany and England. Boliden has approximately 4800 employees and a turnover of 34 SEK bil- lion1 which is approximately 3.77 billion Euro’s.

The Boliden Area The company derives its name from the area Boliden where there has been mining since the 1920’s. Ore was extracted since the 1920’s from more than 30 mines. Boliden currently has five mines in operation: Kristineberg, Renström, Kankberg, Maurliden and Maurliden Östra. These mine and concentrate approximately 1,700 ktonnes of ore per year. The copper and gold produced are concen- trated in Boliden and then sent to the smelter at Rönnskär. The Zinc concentrate is shipped to Odda in Norway,Kokkola in Finland and to various other smelters in Europe.

In the Boliden area, Boliden produces Copper, Gold, Silver, Lead and Zinc concentrates. Boliden also has a Tellurium plant and 500 of Boliden’s employees work in the Boliden Area.

Figure: Boliden Area

46 Health & Safety Since 2005 there was a downward trend in the LTI figures in the Boliden group, this positive development lasted until 2012 when accidents started to happen more frequently despite hard work to reduce the LTI. Boliden has a zero tolerance policy in place for accidents. This includes not just accidents with employees but also accidents regarding the environment, emission and spills. They are also running Boliden Group wide risk and injury analyses to see where im- provements can be made. Boliden also includes contractors in their safety statistics.

Environment & Sustainability At the Boliden concentrator the sulphides which comprise the main ore minerals, react with water and produce sulphuric acid, thus decrease the pH of the process water. To be able to reuse the process water, or to store in the nearby tailings dam, the acid needs to be buffered. At Boliden this is done by adding lime to the process water. Another issue comes up in the processing of gold ore. The gold ore is concentrated using a cya- nide solution. Cyanide has the potential to react with water to form hydrogen cyanide, a highly toxic gas. Fortunately cyanide is also stable when dissolved in alkaline (high pH) water. At Boliden, most of the sulphide minerals are removed from the ore before cyanidation, limiting the decrease in the pH of the leachate. After leaching, the solids are filtered from the leachate. The leachate is then returned to the process. This means that no cyanide enters any part of the other processes.

Marketing Boliden has become the Scandinavian market leader in the mining leader. Of course they en- counter the same challenges as other mining companies, selling resources. But they succeed in marketing their product by being engaged in sustainable development projects in their social, environmental and economic surroundings. They make good use of the media provided by issuing a company magazine and publishing movies and other press releasing letting the world know that they make “metals for modern life”.

Innovation The Head Office of Boliden houses the Tech Department of Boliden. The Tech Department can be seen as an internal consultancy agency. All needs of the mines come through the Tech Office and they will make sure that there is a solution for the problems at the mine. Current research topics at the Tech Department are: dealing with bigger stresses at greater depth, im- proved process efficiency and mining automation. The ultimate goal of the Tech Department is autonomous production of the mine without a single operator present in the mine. Boliden has set the goal for itself to achieve this within 27 years. Besides the mine automation, Boliden is also working on a new mining method called Rill Mining. This method will be applied in one of their mines in the near future.

47 Efficiency New Boliden has made big steps in the last 27 years. In those years they managed to get to a fully automated production process. The advantages of those changes are less accidents and higher availability rates of employees and machinery. Through the years New Boliden managed to optimise their production using 3D models, better centralised long term planning and fine tuning of processes. For example the flotation process, with milling the martial less fine they managed to get the same output of concentrate out of the flotation plants.

The processing plant near the Boliden main office exist for quite some time now. Throughout the years the plant have been a playground for its engineers, who made their optimizations. Partly the machines are taken from other plants where they have been put in retirement. Recently they finished a new tellurium processing plant on the same site. The plant will add 10% to the global tellurium output.

48 Rönnskär Smelter

Quick Facts Products: Copper, lead, several precious metals, sulphuric acid, zinc clinker, Iron sand Employees: 866 Established: 1930 World Leader in E-scrap recycling

Introduction The Rönnskär Copper Smelter is located in a town called Skelleftehamn, in the Skellefteå municipality in the northern part of Sweden, on the Bothnian Bay. It is run by New Boliden, a prominent Swedish mining and smelting company.

The Rönnskär Smelter was established in 1930, with the intention to process the ore from the Boliden mine that had been in operation since 1924. For these first six years, the Boliden ores were exported to be processed abroad, but because of the limited capacity of these international parties to process com- plex ores, Boliden decided to create two new smelters on the islands Rönnskär and Hamnskär, on the Skellefteå coast. These island were, in the interest of construction and the logistics of the ore delivery connected to the coast.

When the Boliden mine was depleted and closed down, the smelter did not follow suit, but it adapted to become a processing plant for Boliden’s own copper and lead concentrates, as well as external input. Current products are copper, lead, zinc clinker (a slag-like waste product rich in zinc, but not processed further at this location) and various precious metals. A substantial part (about 14%) of the Rönnskär smelter feed is currently scrap from electronic waste such as old computers and mobile phones, which has caused an increase in precious metals and copper production from for example motherboards and wiring.

Owner and Operator Rönnskär is owned and operated by Boliden. See the section Owner and Operator section of the Garpenberg report for a more in-depth discussion on Boliden’s history.

Feed Rönnskär copper smelter can operate with a variety of feed products. Initially established to handle complex ores containing various precious metals and copper, continuous innovation has lead to pro- cessing capability for ores containing lead and precious metals, through the development of the Kaldo furnace, a flash smelting furnace for lead, which previously had to be smelted using a blast furnace. The EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, which states that at least 4 kg per head of population per year of electronic scrap should be collected and sorted, has lead to an increase in availability of a secondary feed material, which the Rönnskär copper smelter can processing in a processing line also involving the Kaldo converter. The current feed of copper concentrates and second- ary materials is about 800.000 tonnes per year, of which about 120.000 tonnes is e-scrap, which makes Rönnskär the biggest electronic scrap recycling facility in the world.

Products Because of the mixed nature of complex ores and e-scrap that make up the feed for the smelter, Rönnskär has a quite wide range of products. The main products are copper, lead, silver and gold, but the smelter also produces zinc clinker and iron sand (a type of slag used in road construction), and the inevitable by-product of sulphide ores: sulphuric acid and sulphuric dioxide. These by-products are produced in the gas treatment plant, which has dramatically reduced the emissions to air of the smelter. Rönnskär was once known for having the highest stack (chimney) in Europe, at 145 m, so the

49 emissions would not end up in the nearby village, and would be mixed with a higher layer of the atmos- phere. The current stack is slightly lower, and is only used in a case of emergency, such as a power out- age. The total production of the Rönnskär smelter can be found on the materials balance sheet on the next page. Not mentioned in the materials balance sheet, but nonetheless produced, are small amounts of palladium, platinum, nickel, tellurium and selenium that are produced in their pure form or as con- centrates from the metal slimes found in the electrolytic converter cells.

Processing method

Roasting and Smelting The cut-off grade for copper is currently quite low (as low as 0.5% in large scale, open pit operations), and most mines beneficiation plants upgrade the ore to a concentrate of about 25% Cu. This is also the prevalent concentrate grade the Rönnskär smelter receives. The main ore mineral for copper is

chalcopyrite, CuFeS2 , and although the ores delivered to Rönnskär are complex, this will be the most useful mineral to illustrate all the processing steps for copper with chemical equation. Most plants, and Rönnskär is no exception, have an ore stockpile, where favourable mixes of different concentrates are made, to make sure the feed has a stable composition over a large period of time. Firstly, the concentrate is roasted in a fluidised bed oven. The, generally moist, concentrates, are heated in an oven where the concentrate is kept mobile by inflow of oxygen enriched and pre-heated air from below. Most of the heat is created by the oxidation of the minerals in the concentrate, since most sulphides such as pyrite react exothermically with oxygen under these conditions. All excess water is

boiled of, and roasting also diminishes the amount of sulphur in the concentrates, by oxidizing it to SO2 , and can get rid of certain volatile impurities. Furthermore, the ore is now pre-heated for the following processing step, smelting. Smelting of the concentrate takes place in a flash furnace. In the flash furnace process, concentrates (and flux, if needed) are fed in at the top of the furnace, along with oxygen enriched air. This mixture falls down, through a concentrate burner, and it is there that most of the chalcopyrite is oxidised, ac- cording to the following equation:

CuFeS2+O2+SiO2→(Cu2 S+FeS)+2 FeO∙SiO2+SO2+Heat

The quartz is added as a fluxing agent, to achieve the right slag composition, which is in this case Fayalite slag. The brackets signify the matte composition. This matte is not easily separated at this stage, and is therefore tapped as a whole (with a copper grade of about 55%), and sent on for converting. The slag is also tapped, and used as road fill. The sulphur dioxide is used in the gas treatment plant to create sulphuric acid. There are more furnaces available for copper smelting, and due to Rönnskär being in opera- tion for a relatively long time, they have several method available to them, apart from the flash smelter, such as an electric furnace (since 1949) and a Kaldo furnace (part of the 2011 investment in increased secondary feed capacity). The Kaldo furnace will be discussed under the heading “E-scrap Processing”, and the electric furnace will not be discussed separately for the sake of brevity.

Matte Converting The next step is to convert the copper matte to blister copper, an impure (98%) form of metallic cop- per, that can be fire refined, cast into anodes, and electro-refined. The liquid copper matte is brought into the converter in batches of about 300 tonnes, where it is heated for 8 hours whilst oxygen is being injected into the mixture by tuyères. The converting process is a two-stage process, with the first stage being called the slag forming stage, and the second stage the copper making stage. During the slag forming stage, the remaining iron sulphide is converted, again with quartz as a fluxing agent and oxygen to oxidise and drive off the sulphur, into more Fayalite slag. This is done at a temperature of around 1500 K, a significantly higher temperature compared to the temperature in the flash furnace. The slag forming stage takes about an hour (to bring the amount Fe to below 1%), and the liquid slag, which floats on the “white” copper, as the Cu2S is called at this stage, can be tapped

50 of by tipping the converter. The slag can then be recycled back into the flash furnace for any remnants of copper, which doesn’t dissolve very well in the slag, but in significantly large amounts to make this feedback loop advantageous. The white copper left at this stage has to be rid of all its sulphur. This is done by further injec- tion of oxygen in the copper making stage. The process takes place according to the following equa- tions:

Cu2 S+3/2 O2→ Cu_2 O+SO2

2Cu2 O+Cu2 S → 6Cu+SO2

Which leaves you with copper in its native form, and of a purity of around 98%, as mentioned before: blister copper. In the converter it is once again worth noting that most of the required energy is gener- ated by the exothermic oxidation reaction of these sulphides.

Refining To achieve electronic grade copper (4 to 5 nines purity), the blister copper has to undergo two refining steps: fire refining and electrolytic refining. Fire refining usually takes place in the anode casting- fur nace. In this furnace, small batches of copper are first injected with oxygen, to remove the last 0.5-1% of sulphur present in the copper. Then, the oxygen is removed by introducing a source of carbon to the molten copper, usually metallurgical grade coal. This reacts with the oxygen left in the copper, form- ing CO2. The temperature in the fire refining step is controlled at about 1400 K. After fire refining, the copper is cast into large anodes (250-350 kg), that contain about 0.001-0.003% sulphur and 0.05-0.2% oxygen. These anodes are left to cool, and then they are ready for electrolytic refining. The electrolytic refining step takes place in large bath of sulphuric acid solution, which is cre- ated on site from the SO2 off-gas created in the earlier production steps. Under influence of an electric current (200-250 A/m2 at cell voltage 0.25 V), the copper dissolves into the solution at the anode, and precipitates again at the cathode, usually a steel “blank” sheet. The small fraction of precious metals still present in the copper don’t dissolve under these conditions. Therefore, small particles of gold, silver, palladium and some other sink to the bottom of the cell and form the so-called anode slime, a very rich concentrate. This concentrate is recovered from the cells and refined in the precious metals plant. The steel blanks with a layer of copper will be taken out of the solution after about 5 days. The copper is stripped of, washed, and ready to be sold as cathode grade copper (99.99% pure) fit for electronic ap- plications.

E-scrap Processing E-scrap recycling is an increasingly prominent part of operations at Rönnskär copper smelter, and therefore deserves some special attention. Obviously, shredded motherboards or mobile phones are not really comparable to a copper concentrate delivered from a mine site, and contain several materials not usually seen in metallurgical operations, such as plastics as consumer grade glass. Other materials contained in e-scrap are metals that can be detrimental to the processing efficiency for copper, such as aluminium. Most of these materials are separated out of the e-scrap mixture, but a certain amount of plastic is left in. This plastic, when introduced into the e-scrap Kaldo furnace, will burn and generate the energy needed to keep the process going. The Kaldo furnace, developed for the steelmaking industry in the 1940s, but also applicable to lead smelting and e-scrap recycling, is a top blown rotary converter (TBRC), that inject oxygen at high pressure with an oxygen lance, a technique some may be familiar with from steelmaking. The main reason e-scrap isn’t introduced in the roasting or smelting step is that these step are aimed at remov- ing the most easily removed sulphur, and introducing non-sulphides to these steps would consume large amounts of energy, while not significantly altering their composition. The “black copper”, as the CuAgZn mixture (but also quite rich in gold) from the Kaldo furnace is called, is introduced at the con- verting stage, to remove the zinc, which is dissolved into the slag, forming zinc clinker. From thereon, it follows the same refining steps as the rest of the copper.

51 Health & Safety Rönnskär employs around 866 people, not including the 200 students who work there during the sum- mer holidays. The LTI of Rönnskär was 6.9 in 2013, the number of injuries per 1 million working hours was around 8 in 2013.

Environment & Sustainability The Rönnskär smelter is currently working hard on reducing its environmental footprint and contribut- ing to the world in a sustainable manner. In 2012 a new e-waste recycling facility was opened, increas- ing their recycling capacity to 120000 tonnes. This makes Rönnskär the largest recycler of electronic waste in the world. Besides this, there is a continuous drive to reduce dust and SO2 emissions. Other programs focus on reducing the waste production of the smelter. All of the smelters’ main by- product, sulphuric acid, is sold to other industries, mainly the nearby paper industries. The slags are also reused as much as possible. The slag from flash furnace is even trucked back to the Boliden con- centrator for reprocessing to get the last mineral fraction out. Despite this some waste is still produced at Rönnskär. Currently there are plans to open an underground waste storage facility 350m below the smelter to store the non-reusable waste.

Innovation Boliden’s Rönnskär smelter is the world leader in e-scrap recycling. They yearly recycle over 120.000 tonnes of material here. The e-scrap accounts for one third of the total copper production at Rönnskär. In the past years a lot was done to reduce pollution from the smelter. This had led to the fact that Rönnskär is now one of the cleanest zinc smelters in the world. Innovation has always been very im- portant at Rönnskär, which has lead in the past to the development of new applications for the Kaldo furnace, originally intended for steel making. An innovative project currently in preparatory stages is the underground storage of >0.1% mercury waste.

Efficiency The scrap processed at Rönnskär is transported using freight trains, allowing large distances to be trav- elled before processing. Recycling waste materials requires constant adjustments to the process, as the supply varies. For example the change from CRT to TFT and now LED (computer-)displays. The Rönnskär plant uses a fraction of the plastics, that come with the e-scrap, as fuel for the heating in the process.

52 53