In its recent earnings report, Boliden said the third quarter could be characterized by extensive maintenance in the mines and other production disturbances. At the same time, they announced that the company’s president and CEO, Lennart Evrell, will resign halfway through 2018 and they are starting the succession program.
“Maintenance work in all of the mines, coupled with production disturbances, resulted in production levels falling from the very high levels seen in the previous quarter,” Evrell said. “Garpenberg had problems with rock stability in one production area, necessitating the extraction of ore from areas with lower grades. On the plus side, Kevitsa is continuing to perform strongly.”
Boliden saw its production decline steeply from a very strong second quarter. Aitik’s production was limited by low crusher availability. Garpenberg’s milled volume was high in spite of the maintenance work carried out on the mills. The re-planning of production areas, however, resulted in lower grades during the quarter. Production disturbances continued in the Boliden Area, and metal production consequently fell from the previous quarter’s levels. Kevitsa’s milled volume and copper production achieved record highs.
Process disturbances at the Kokkola and Odda zinc smelters had a negative effect on production, while Rönnskär’s copper and lead production remained on par with the previous quarter, and Harjavalta’s processes were stable.
Regarding Evrell’s resignation, Chairman Anders Ullberg said, “It is always sad when a successful and appreciated CEO decides to resign, but the board understands that Lennart wants to round off his career with other assignments. Now it is important to secure a good succession in Boliden without losing momentum.”
