 | |
| Company type | Publicly tradedAktiebolag |
|---|---|
| Nasdaq Stockholm: BOL | |
| ISIN | SE0000869646  |
| Industry | Metals andMining |
| Founded | 1924; 102 years ago (1924) |
| Headquarters | Stockholm, Sweden |
Key people | Karl-Henrik Sundström (Chairman) Mikael Staffas (President andCEO) |
| Products | Copper,zinc,nickel,lead,precious metals,sulphuric acid,PGM,iron sand |
| Revenue |  78.554 billionkr (2023) |
| 8.287 billion kr (2023) | |
| 6.074 billion kr (2023) | |
| Total assets |  101.957 billion kr (2023) |
| Total equity | 56.420 billion kr (2023) |
Number of employees | 5,664 (2023) |
| Website | www |
Boliden AB (stylized asBoliden) is aSwedish multinational metals, mining, andsmelting company headquartered inStockholm. The company produceszinc,copper,lead,nickel,silver, andgold, with operations in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Portugal, and Ireland.
Founded in the 1920s and named after the Boliden mine, a now-defunct gold mine 30 km northwest of the Swedish town ofSkellefteå, Boliden AB began as a gold mining company. Over the following decades, it expanded into copper, silver and nickel mining, as well as smelting. In the 1970s, following a period of high metals prices, the company diversified aggressively, purchasingappliance manufacturers,wholesalers andtrading companies. In 1985, it wasacquired byTrelleborg, apolymer manufacturer, which refocused it back on mining while also expanding overseas. In 1998, Trelleborg moved Boliden's headquarters to Toronto, Canada and sold Boliden again on the stock market. However, Boliden'sshare price collapsed over the next four years, due to a combination of low metal prices and adam failure at one of its mines in Spain thatled to an environmental disaster. In 2002, it moved its headquarters back to Sweden, sold off its non-European assets and regained profitability.
Boliden owns and operates Europe's biggest zinc mine atTara in Ireland (acquired in 2004). Boliden also ownsGarpenberg, a zinc-lead mine and Sweden's oldest mine still in operation. The mineral-rich Skellefte field lies within the Boliden Area, where almost 30 mines have been opened since production began in the 1920s and where Boliden currently operates the Renström and Kristineberg underground mines and the Maurliden open pit mine. Boliden also owns and operates theAitik copper mine.
Boliden refines bothmetal concentrate and scrap waste at its smelters in Sweden, Finland and Norway to producebase metals andprecious metals. Its main metals are zinc and copper, but the production of lead, gold and silver also makes a substantial contribution to its revenues. It is also a significant producer ofsulfuric acid as a refining byproduct.
| Mine | Main metals | Acquired |
|---|---|---|
| Renström mine | Zinc, copper[1] | 1952[1] |
| Garpenberg | Zinc, lead[2] | 1957[2] |
| Kankberg mine | Tellurium, gold[3] | 1960s[4] |
| Aitik mine | Copper[5] | 1968[5] |
| Tara Mine | Zinc, lead[6] | 2003[7] |
| Kevitsa mine | Copper, nickel[8] | 2016[8] |
| Neves-Corvo | Zinc, copper[9] | 2025[10] |
| Zinkgruvan | Zinc, lead[11] | 2025[10] |
Boliden is active in mining,refining,smelting andchemical production. As of 2025, Boliden operates seven mines, all of them in Europe (see table).[12] Its mining activities are primarily inzinc andcopper, as well as some lead,gold,silver.[13] The mines are geographically concentrated in Sweden, but the company also operates a mine each in Finland, Ireland and Portugal. Its most productive mine in 2024 was Aitik producing 41 million tonnes of ore, followed by Kevitsa, with 10 million tonnes.[14] Aitik is Europe's fourth-biggest copper mine[15] despite having relatively low-grade ore (0.2–0.4%);[16][17] it owes its productivity to its largeeconomies of scale and high degree ofautomation.[17]
Boliden spent SEK 929 millionSEK (US$88 million) on exploration in 2024.[14]
Boliden also owns and operates fivesmelters.[18]Rönnskär, Boliden's oldest smelter, is located in northern Sweden and produces primarily copper and sulfuric acid, as well as some lead and zinc. Norzinc, a smelter inOdda, Norway, produces zinc and sulfuric acid. Bergsöe, a lead smelter in the southern Swedish town ofLandskrona, is alead-acid battery recycling plant.[19] A smelter inHarjavalta in southern Finland chiefly produces copper and nickel, as well as minor amounts of gold, silver and palladium. A smelter inKokkola, northern Finland, produces zinc.[20]
Kokkola is specialized in the production of "special high-grade zinc", which is used ingalvanization.[21] The Odda zinc smelter, which produces zinc for the steel industry and aluminium fluoride for Norway's aluminium industry, is located on the west coast of Norway. TheRönnskär copper smelter also produces metals from electronic scrap and other secondary materials. The Harjavalta copper smelter, located on the west coast of Finland, produces copper cathodes that are mainly sold to manufacturers of semi-finished goods. Bergsöe is one of Europe's four biggest players in the lead recycling industry. Approximately 60% of the plant's lead production is sold to the European battery industry, with the remainder used in the manufacture of roofing sheet.
Only around 40–50% of the raw materials Boliden refines at its smelters are from its own mines. Most of the remainder is sourced from other mining companies. 5–10% of its raw copper, nickel and zinc, as well as 60% of its raw lead feed, is from recycling scrap.[20]
In 1918, a mining company calledCentralgruppens Emissionsbolag, which was majority-owned bySkaninaviska Banken, began prospecting in the area surroundingSkellefteå. In 1924, a gold ore deposit was discovered near the village of Bjurliden, around 30 km from Skellefteå.[22] It was found to contain 18 grams of gold per ton, making it Europe's richest ore at the time.[23] It also contained significant amounts of silver and copper.[24]
In the mid-1920s, the company went bankrupt. Its mainshareholder Skaninaviska Bankenliquidated and restructured it into two separate companies, retaining majority ownership of both:Skellefteå gruv AB andVästerbottens gruv AB.[22] Oscar Falkman, aventure capitalist who had led Emissionsbolag'sprospecting operations since 1918, became the leader of both companies.[24] FinancierIvar Kreuger bought majority shares in both companies in 1929 for 58 millionSEK (2 billion SEK today, or 183 millionEUR)[25] and two years later consolidated them into one, which became the modern entity Boliden.[26] Falkman became its firstCEO, ultimately serving for 12 years.[27]
In 1932, Kreuger, who was heavily indebted and facing bankruptcy, died of suicide. The Swedish government passed a law limiting foreign ownership of Swedish companies active in resource extraction. The law, dubbedLex Boliden by the press, remained on the books until the 1990s.[28] Ultimately, Kreuger's stake in Boliden passed back to Skandinaviska Banken, which had provided most of the money for his purchase of the mine.[25] The bank remained the owners of the company until 1952, when the company shares were publicly listed.[29]
Over the next few years, the town ofBoliden grew quickly around the mine.[24]
In 1930, Boliden commissioned asmelter in the coastal town ofSkelleftehamn to process the Boliden ore. The site saw significant expansion in the rest of the 20th century and is today part of the company'sRönnskär factory.[24] In the 1940s, Boliden began producing purifiedlead,silver andarsenic there.[22] In 1952, the company began to producesulphuric acid from its ownsulphur dioxide emissions. In 1970, a dedicated refinery was built to concentrate and purify the sulphur dioxide to increase the recovery rate. Boliden had a near-monopoly on sulphuric acid in Sweden at that time.[22]
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Responding to demand created by the war economies of World War II, Boliden began investing in theextraction and processing ofcopper, as well as somelead andnickel.[22] The company commissioned theLaver copper mine in 1936, which was only operational for ten years. The following year,[30] Boliden also bought a significant amount of land nearKristineberg from local prospector and miner Johan Alfred Hultdin for 50,000 SEK (1.9 million SEK today, or 170,000 EUR). The company quickly developed the site and commissioned mining operations in 1940. In 1943, the company began operating a 96-kilometreaerial tramway between Kristineberg and Boliden for the transportation of ore.[31] In 1943, Boliden opened a lead mine inLaisvall that was active until 2001.[24]
Boliden began expanding its lead production and also investing inzinc, which together made up the majority of the company's metal output by the 1960s.[22] In 1957, Boliden acquired the companyZinkgruvor AB, taking over its mines in theBergslagen region, including a zinc and silver mine atGarpenberg[32] andLångfallsgruvan, a zinc mine nearSaxberget.[29] Boliden opened theAitik mine, anopen pit mine copper mine, nearGällivare in 1968.[5] The company also continued producing gold, as well as silver, arsenic, selenium, nickel sulphate, zinc, and sulphuric acid.[22]
In the 1960s, Boliden began to develop processes to refine complex metal mixtures, critical for recycling industrialscrap. The company was one of the key developers of theKaldo furnace to treat lead-containing copper.[22]
In 1967, the original Boliden mine was closed down.[33]
In 1973, Boliden acquired half of the lead mining operations of the German company Preussag (todayTUI Group). Boliden aimed to expand itslead smelting and refining capacity, as well as facilitate the sale of its lead products. The deal also marked Boliden's first major entry into markets outside of Sweden.[22] In 1976, Boliden launched aKaldo type furnace, for processing metals. 1976 also saw Boliden launch the firstflash smelting furnace for lead, applying Kaldo technology, atRönnskär.
In 1979, Boliden acquiredPaul Bergsöe & Son, a Danish smelting company with operations inLandskrona,[34] which is today primarily alead-acid battery recycler.[35]
By 1980, Boliden was producing around 11 million tonnes of ore per year from 16 mines in central and northern Sweden. Almost all of it was refined at the Rönnskär (Sweden) andOdda (Norway). Seeking to diversify its operations, the company expanded aggressively over five years, investing indownstream activities likegallium arsenide production and construction materials. It also set up its own materials trading division[36] and, in 1986, purchased the appliance wholesalerAhlsell for 1 billion SEK (2.7 billion SEK, or 244 million EUR, in 2025). The acquisition made Boliden one of Sweden's largest companies, with over 15,000 employees.[22]
However, by 1985, low international metal prices had severely cut into the company's profits, depressing its share price to the point that it became a target for atakeover.[36] In 1986, thepolymer manufacturerTrelleborg acquired acontrolling interest in Boliden.
Trelleborg, Boliden's majority shareholder from 1986 to 1996, initiated a major restructuring of the Boliden Group to refocus the company on its core strengths: mining, mineral refining, and chemicals. A number of unrelated or loss-making subsidiaries totaling over 6,000 employees were sold off, including large parts of the recently purchased Ahlsell, several electronics andhousehold appliance companies, a number oftrading companies, and a healthcare provider. The money raised through these divestments were reinvested to expand Boliden's mining operations.[37] In particular, Trelleborg aimed to expand Boliden's international footprint, believing that Sweden had become less competitive as a manufacturing location due tohigh taxes, stricter environmental laws, and Sweden's lack of membership in theEuropean Economic Community (asingle market that later grew into theEuropean Union).[36]
The company began acquiring mines outside of Sweden. It opened a Toronto office in 1988. One of the first major international acquisitions was Boliden's purchase of the near-bankrupt zinc and lead mineMaamorilik in Greenland fromCominco in 1986.[38] The subsequent discovery of further exploitable mineral deposits, combined with the recovery of metals prices in the late 1980s, allowed Boliden to extend the life of the mine by several years at a significant profit.[36] In the same year, Boliden acquired the Spanish company Apirsa, which extracted zinc and lead from theAznalcóllar open pit mine, 45 km west ofSeville.[22][36] The company also redoubled its efforts to finish construction of the Sukhaybarat gold mine in Saudi Arabia, which it had partially acquired several years earlier and was developing as ajoint venture withPetromin.[36] The mine was finally commissioned in 1991.[39]
In 1992, Boliden opened thePetiknäs zinc mine in northern Sweden after several years of exploration; it was connected to the nearby Rönström zinc/gold mine via a 2.5 kmunderground passage in 1996.[40]
Some acquisitions proved short-lived. In 1990, Boliden entered a joint venture withBurkina Faso's mining ministry to develop thePerkoa zinc mine,[41] but withdrew just two years later following a global collapse in zinc prices.[42] Similarly, it exited a joint venture[43] to develop the Santa Rosa gold mine inCañazas, Panama in 1993.[44]
By 1996, Boliden was incurring steep losses, moving Trelleborg todivest Boliden again.[45] Boliden was restructured as Boliden Limited and reincorporated in Toronto. Trelleborg sold 55% of its shares in Boliden in on theToronto Stock Exchange for US$632 million (1.15 billion today).[46] In 1999, Trelleborg began selling off its remaining 45% stake on theStockholm Stock exchange;[47] by 2001 its stake had been reduced to 8%.[48] Boliden's debts at this time amounted to 8 billionSEK (12 billion SEK today, or 1.1 billion EUR).[45]
In 1997,[49] Boliden Ltd. bought the Canadian company Westmin forUS$540 million (US$1.04 billion today).[50] Although the acquisition initially appeared a success, with Boliden doubling its profits that year,[49] it quickly became viewed as a disaster. One Canadian newspaper remarked that it had "paid top dollar for a handful of problem mines."[51] Falling metals prices worsened the situation.[51] By the end of 1998, Boliden was already forced to close one of the acquired mines, theGibraltar copper mine in Canada,[52] and write off its 51% stake in the unfinishedVizcachitas copper project in Chile.[53] In 1999, it sold the closed Gibraltar mine toTaseko for US$20 million[54] and its 50% stake in the Saudi Sukhaybarat gold mine, which it had been co-operating for 8 years,[55] forUS$6.9 million.[56] In 2004, Boliden sold what remained of its Westmin assets toBreakwater Resources for US$5.7 million in company shares.[57]
On 25 April 1998, thetailings dam at Apirsa's Los Frailes mine burst and 4.5 million cubic metres oftailings sand drained out into the nearbyGuadiamar river, nearDoñana National Park, causing Spain's worst environmental disaster in modern history. The dam's failure was attributed to gradual deterioration of itsmarl foundation in contact with the acidic contents of the dam. Although the company claimedforce majeure, critics noted that issues with the foundation had been identified two years previously.[58] The company closed the mine permanently and beganreclamation work. The financial cost of the disaster wiped out Boliden's profits. As a result, its share price also dropped sharply.[50] Although the company was cleared of criminal responsibility in 2001, the Spanish government fined Boliden's Spanish subsidiary, which had already gone bankrupt, €45 million (€73.6 million today) in 2002.[59] Boliden unsuccessfully sued several of the construction companies that had built the dam.[60] Theremediation costs of Aznalcóllar ended up costing €240 million (€377 million today).[61]
In 2001, Boliden was redomiciled in Sweden as Boliden AB.[62] The company began pivoting back to its European roots. In 2000, it invested US$245 million in an expansion ofRönnskär, its biggest smelting plant, which had been a reliable source of revenue throughout the difficult 1990s. The expansion, consisting of more energy-efficientflash furnaces, was expected to pay for itself within 7 years.[50] New exploration and development efforts followed in northern Sweden, including theMaurliden zinc mine (opened in 2001)[63] and theStorliden copper/zinc mine (opened in 2002).[64] In 2004, Boliden sold Storliden to Lundin Mining for 123 million SEK (178 million SEK today, or 16 million EUR).[65]
In 2003, Boliden further narrowed its focus on mining and refining by swapping its advanced manufacturing and sales units[7] forOutokumpu's mining and smelting assets.[66] The deal included theTara zinc mine in Ireland; zinc smelters inKokkola (Finland) andOdda (Norway); and copper smelting and refining operations inHarjavalta andPori (Finland). In exchange, Outokumpu acquired Boliden's brass and other downstream units.[7] To partially fund the transaction, Boliden issued new shares, resulting in Outokumpu owning 49% of the company.[7] Outokumpu gradually sold off its stake over the next three years.[67]
In 2006, Boliden approved a $790 million ($1.1 billion today) expansion of itsAitik copper mine, which was completed in 2010.[16] That same year,OM Group signed a 3-year contract for Boliden to refine 240,000 tons of nickelconcentrate annually at its Harjavalta smelter.[68] Successful exploration resulted in increases to Garpenberg's ore reserves. A new lead section was also opened at Bergsöe.
In 2016, Boliden purchased theKevitsa mine in Finland for[69] for US$712 million.[8]
In 2016, Boliden was ranked as being among the 13th best of 92 oil, gas, and mining companies on indigenous rights in the Arctic.[70]
In April 2025, Boliden acquired Somnicor, owner of theNeves-Corvo mine, and Zinkgruvan mine fromLundin Mining for US$1.4 billion plus up to an additional US$150 million in contingency payments.[71]
In the mid-1980s, allegedly to circumvent stricter environmental laws in Sweden, Boliden offloaded around 19,000 tonnes of waste to Promel, a Chilean company, for processing. Boliden paid 10 million SEK for Promel to take on the waste. The waste had been stored in Boliden's Rönnskär smelter for several decades[72] and contained high concentrations of hazardous elements, includingarsenic,mercury,cadmium andlead.[73] Promel claimed to want to extract and sell the gold contained in the waste, but never ended up doing so.[72] The waste was, instead, stored on the outskirts of the city ofArica, at a site which was converted to a low-cost residential area in the 1990s on the instructions of the social services. The original export documents had claimed that the metallic residues were 'non-toxic'[73] and residents were unaware of the waste's presence or potential for harm. However, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, reports began emerging of people suffering from symptoms consistent witharsenic poisoning.[74] By 2008, 12,000 people were believed to be affected.[75] In 2009, the Chilean government evacuated around 7,000 residents of the area. The waste was exported before theBasel Convention prohibiting the export of environmentally hazardous waste came into force.
In 2013, 700 Chilean victims of arsenic poisoning filed a lawsuit against Boliden.[76][77] The plaintiffs lost the case in the Skellefteådistrict court in 2019. Their appeal to theappeals court was also rejected the following year; the court found that thestatute of limitations of 10 years had run out.[78] In 2024, during astate visit to Sweden, Chilean presidentGabriel Boric discussed the issue with Swedish prime ministerUlf Kristersson. The pair signed aletter of intent promising to cooperate on the removal of mining waste.[79]
The decades-long disaster led to widespread criticism of Boliden and Sweden. Boliden was criticized for its intransigence in dealing with the victims. The Swedish state was also accused of showing excessive deference to the company and not following its own laws on the export of hazardous waste.[80] The journalistMarcos Orellana, serving as aUnited Nations special rapporteur, investigated the case and wrote that he "could not imagine" he would be writing about Sweden when he accepted his job. He deplored Boliden's tactics of casting doubt on the validity of the arsenic poisoning cases and urged both Boliden and the Swedish government to finally acknowledge their role in the disaster, "remedy the damage caused to the population of Arica," and arrange for the waste to be stored in Boliden's purpose-built repository at its Rönnskärsverken site in Sweden.[80]
In September 2020, Boliden lawyers sued lawyers Johan Öberg and Göran Starkebo, who were representing the alleged Chilean victims of arsenic poisoning from Boliden's waste dumping scandal in the 1980s. Boliden attempted to make them personally liable for costs incurred by Boliden in defending the case.[81] It was considered byAnnalisa Ciampi, who was serving as aUN special rapporteur, to be anintimidation lawsuit.[82]
One of Boliden's mines, the Los Frailes mine near Sevilla, was the site of one of Spain'sworst environmental disasters in modern history in 1998.[83][84]
In 2017, Boliden was rated the world's second most climate-friendly mining firm with regards to carbon dioxide.[85]
In August 2021, Boliden was one of several major mining companies to joinKomatsu to advance zero-emission mining.[86]
In August 2021, Boliden ranked second among mining companies in Bloomberg Intelligence's low-carbon ranking.[87]
In 2021, Boliden was ranked no. 18 out of 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle in the Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI).[88]
Boliden reported TotalCO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for 31 December 2020 at 897 Kt (-20 /-2.2% y-o-y).[89] There has been a consistent declining trend in reported emissions since 2016.
| Dec 2014 | Dec 2015 | Dec 2016 | Dec 2017 | Dec 2018 | Dec 2019 | Dec 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,001[90] | 889[91] | 1,053[92] | 1,023[93] | 971[94] | 917[95] | 897[89] |
TheAitik copper mine (a major mine within the company) was featured on a 2007 episode of theDiscovery Channel seriesReally Big Things.
Released in 2014, Swedish director Roy Andersson's filmA Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence includes a controversial scene which, according to the director, refers to Boliden's involvement in dumping dangerous toxins in the Chilean city Arica in the 1980s.[96] In a review of the film, film critic Jessica Kiang describes the scene: "And in probably the most unsettling and memorable scene, which plays out like a live action Monty Python animation, colonial-era British soldiers pack a huge brass drum outfitted with trumpet horns of varying sizes with chained black slaves. The door is closed, and a fire is lit beneath the drum, which begins to revolve slowly (it is emblazoned with the name of Swedish mining giant Boliden) and to emit a kind of music. All this, it is revealed, is being enacted for the entertainment of a group of elderly rich, champagne-sipping white people in evening wear."[97]
The smelting victims inArica is also the topic ofToxic Playground, a Swedish documentary by William Johansson and Lars Edman released in 2009.[98]
In 2021, the topical satirical show Svenska Nyheter (Swedish News) included a12 minute segment about the ARICA case, with a resident of Arica gathering a sample of contaminated soil, putting it in an envelope and mailing it back to Boliden.[99]
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