On account of information published by media during the last few days concerning claims made by the Spanish government against Boliden's Spanish subsidiary Boliden Apirsa, Boliden would like to comment as follows:
- Boliden's Spanish subsidiary Boliden Apirsa was acquitted of all responsibility in the comprehensive criminal investigation following a dam failure at the Los Frailes mine in Spain. The dam failure was caused by defects in the construction and mistakes made in the preliminary geological studies and not in the operations of Boliden Apirsa.
- No formal claim has been raised against Boliden or any of its subsidiaries by the Spanish government over the dam failure.
- Boliden Apirsa reached an agreement with the regional Andalusian government in December 2001 as well as with the workers' union at the Spanish mine concerning restoration of the area and redundancy payment for the workers. According to the agreement, the local government accepted responsibility for restoring the site, while Boliden agreed to financially compensate the government in order to be freed from responsibility for redundancy payments. The agreement gives Boliden the right to certain mining equipment.
- Boliden has assumed a great responsibility in connection with the dam failure, not least concerning the restoration of the site and compensating people affected. Boliden is presently investigating possibilities to reclaim costs caused by the dam failure. Any future claims made against Boliden will be redirected, along with costs caused by these, against those who are ultimately responsible for the construction of the dam.
- Boliden's view of the consequences of the dam failure at the Los Frailes mine has not changed. Boliden has no intention to take further responsibility for the terminated mining activities in Spain.
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