Swiss miner Boliden says its milled production volumes during the third quarter remained on par with that of the second quarter of the year, but came in higher than that of the prior year's third quarter.

The company reported an operating profit of SEK2.2-billion for the quarter ended September 30, compared with the operating profit of SEK1.8-billion reported for both the second quarter and the third quarter of last year.

Boliden produced 76 720 t of zinc in concentrate in the third quarter, compared with 73 950 t produced in the second quarter and the 75 494 t produced in the comparable quarter last year.

The company’s copper production in concentrate totalled 30 777 t, compared with 34 076 t produced in the second quarter and the 29 605 t produced in the third quarter of 2019.

Boliden says copper production fell owing to lower grades at the Aitik and Kevitsa operations, but the year-on-year increase was as a result of higher milled volumes at both operations.

Nickel production in concentrate came in at 3 058 t, compared with the 2 670 t of nickel produced in the second quarter and the 2 050 t of nickel produced in the corresponding quarter last year.

Boliden produced 13 785 t of lead in the quarter under review, compared with the 13 822 t lead produced in the second quarter and the 15 206 t produced in the third quarter last year.

Gold in concentrate output rose to 2 080 kg in the third quarter, up from 1 987 kg in the second quarter and the 2 016 kg produced in the third quarter of 2019.  

The company’s silver production in concentrate rose to 96 652 kg in the third quarter, up from 80 541 kg produced in the second quarter and 91 376 kg produced in the third quarter last year.

The company says its precious metals production increased from last year owing to higher grades.

Boliden says the Kevitsa mine, in Finland, reached a production capacity of 9.5-million tonnes a year in the third quarter, despite the negative consequences of a fire earlier in the year, while the Aitik mine, in Sweden, achieved a 45-million-tonne-a-year production capacity at the end of the quarter.

Boliden has six mining areas: Aitik, Boliden Area, Garpenberg, Kevitsa, Kylylahti and Tara.

Boliden CEO Mikael Staffas says higher volumes of produced metal, higher zinc treatment charges and higher precious metal and copper prices contributed positively to the quarter’s performance.

The Harjavalta smelter had undergone a planned maintenance shutdown, which led to a slight decrease in copper and nickel production compared with the second quarter.

The Rönnskär smelter’s production of most metals decreased compared with the second quarter.

Kokkola’s zinc production was on par with the previous quarter.

At the Odda smelter, some disturbances in the foundry had a negative impact on zinc production.

Boliden says that despite an uptick in industrial activity and metals demand recovering from global shutdowns amid Covid-19, it is still not at the levels seen in 2019.