Boliden's Spanish subsidiary Boliden Apirsa has filed a notice of litigation against Dragados y Construcciones S.A., a member of the construction company Dragados S.A., listed in Spain, in connection with the failure of the tailings dam at the Los Frailes mine, Spain, in 1998. Boliden's claim against Dragados amounts to a minimum of 1 billion SEK (107 million Euro). The formal claim will be presented to a Spanish court in October.
Boliden Apirsa demands that the Spanish construction company Dragados compensate Boliden Apirsa and its insurance companies for costs in connection with the clean-up operations and the economic compensation to those affected by the accident.
As previously announced, Boliden Apirsa has been acquitted of all responsibility as a result of a criminal investigation and also by an international commission of inquiry, both stated that the failure was caused by defects in the design and construction of the dam.
Boliden's legal representatives have studied the claim raised against Boliden by the Spanish Ministry of the Environment. Their investigation confirms Boliden Apirsa's strong and firm legal position to reject the claim. Further, there is no risk of the corporate veil being pierced.
- The question of responsibility has already been investigated and what is now going on in Spain is driven politically and Boliden has been wrongly accused. Our assessment that Boliden will suffer no further losses remains unchanged. We will now initiate a proceeding to obtain compensation for costs incurred, said Boliden's CEO Jan Johansson.
As previously announced, Boliden's mining activities in Spain were terminated at the end of last year after the agreement with the Andalusian regional government and the worker's union concerning the restoration of the area and redundancy payments for the workers. The agreement also states that Boliden owns the right to certain mining equipment that is now in use at the Aitik mine.
For further information, please contact:
Jan Johansson, President and CEO, telephone +46 8 610 16 02 or +46 70 555 02 02
Ulf Söderström, Vice President Public Relations, telephone +46 8 610 15 57 or +46 70 618 95 95