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Aitik mine, Sweden

29th January 2016

By: Sheila Barradas

Creamer Media Research Coordinator & Senior Deputy Editor

  

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Name: Aitik mine.

Location: The Aitik mine is located to the south of Gällivare, in northern Sweden.

Controlling Company: Boliden.

Brief History: The Aitik mine opened in 1968, with a yearly production level of two-million tons of ore.

Brief Description: The Aitik mine is 3 km long and 450 m deep and is Sweden’s biggest copper mine.

Products: Copper, gold and silver.

Geology/Mineralisation: The Aitik deposit consists of chalcopyrite- and pyrite-yielding copper, gold and silver. The mineralisation was discovered in the beginning of the 1930s.

Reserves: Proven reserves as at December 31, 2014, were estimated at 756-million tons, grading 0.15 g/t of gold, 1.5 g/t of silver, 0.22% copper and 24 g/t of molybdenum. Probable reserves were estimated at 370-million tons, grading 0.12 g/t of gold, 1.2 g/t of silver, 0.21% of copper and 28 g/t of molybdenum.

Resources: Measured resources as at December 31, 2014, were 222-million tons, grading 0.10 g/t of gold, 1.1 g/t of silver, 0.16% copper and 18 g/t of molybdenum. Indicated resources were estimated at 1.42-billion tons, grading 0.10 g/t of gold, 0.9 g/t of silver, 0.16% copper and 24 g/t of molybdenum. Inferred resources were estimated at 226-million tons, grading 0.11 g/t of gold, 0.5 g/t of sliver, 0.14% copper and 22 g/t of molybdenum.

Mining Method: Openpit, using pallet mining methods.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The ore is loaded onto trucks by electric shovels. The shovel bucket scoop is 80 t and the trucks have a payload capacity of 320 t. Both machines are among the world’s largest.
Infrastructure includes a truck workshop for maintenance of the gigantic trucks. The workshop also has an advanced wash bay for mining machines.

To reduce haul truck mileage, there is one crusher at surface level and one inside the pit.

There is a 30 000-t-capacity intermediate ore-storage facility. The ore is then transported from this storage facility up to the main ore storage next to the concentrator.

The crushed ore is transported on the 7 km belt conveyor system, of which 3.5 km is underground.

The main ore-storage building, with a capacity of 200 000 t extends from 30 m below ground level to 60 m above.

The concentrator consists of two parallel grinding lines, each with a capacity of 2 200 t/h.

Flotation technology is used to separate the chalcopyrite.

About 500 t of copper concentrate is transported every day by train to the Rönnskär copper smelter in Skellefteå.

Prospects: The current expansion of the mine will expand the mine’s life span to 2030 and double its yearly ore production to 2030.

Contact Person: Director investor relations, Sophie Arnius.

Contact Details:
Boliden,
tel +46 8 610 15 23,
email sophie.arnius@boliden.com, and
website http://www.boliden.com.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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