With regard to EU Commissioner, Loyola de Palacio's statement regarding Boliden and Sweden, Boliden would like to convey the following facts:

Boliden's Spanish subsidiary, Boliden Apirsa has had a long and close collaboration with both the Spanish central and regional governments regarding the cleanup operations after the accident in 1998 at the Spanish mine, Los Frailes. In November 2001, Boliden Apirsa reached an agreement with the regional government and the workers' union regarding the final recovery of the environment as well as the severance payment to the workers.

Boliden has received an international environmental prize for the quick, all encompassing and thorough cleanup operations after the accident. The environmental prize was received from the organization, International Mine Water Association (IMWA) with representatives from 40 different countries.

A Spanish legal process and an international commission of enquiry have freed Boliden from responsibility in the Los Frailes accident. It was established that the reason for the accident was a design and construction fault.

Boliden is internationally known for conducting very thorough environmental work. A large part of the environmental knowledge within the Boliden organization is in high demand and is today sold as a service to other international mining and smelting corporations.

If EU commissioner Loyola de Palacio is correctly quoted it is a highly remarkable view of both Sweden and Boliden. If this is the case, Boliden will demand a written explanation to the comment as well as invite Ms. Loyola de Palacio to a presentation of the extensive recovery that Boliden has conducted in the Los Frailes area 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