Decision in the dispute between Junta de Andalucia and Boliden

The district court in Seville has today announced its decision in the financial dispute between the Junta de Andalucia and Boliden. The court has found that Boliden is not liable for the claim of roughly EUR 89 million that the Junta de Andalucia directed against the company regarding clean-up costs in connection with a dam failure in 1998 at Boliden's former operation Apirsa in Spain.

“While the dam accident was extremely unfortunate, the decision of the court confirms our view that the extensive clean-up efforts that Boliden carried out and the compensation at the time of the accident were satisfactory and that Boliden thereby has acted promptly and in a responsible manner,” says Mikael Staffas, President and CEO.

The decision can be appealed to the next instance.

In 1998, an accident took place in the Apirsa mine in Andalusia when a dam failure occurred at the mine. Although the environmental impact was extensive, no people were injured in connection with the accident. Very extensive and successful clean-up efforts were carried out by both Boliden and the authorities. Already one year later, the mine could be reopened, but a few years later the mine was closed as a result of low world market prices. The accident was likely caused by construction errors on the dam body, which was constructed several years before the mine came into Boliden's ownership.