NEWS

Boliden Limited - Damage to internal tailings containment wall causes temporary suspension of production at Aitik mine, Sweden

September 12, 2000 12:00am
Source: Canada NewsWire

TORONTO, CANADA and STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, Sept. 11 /CNW/ via NewsEdge Corporation -- Boliden today announced that production was temporarily suspended over the weekend at its open pit Aitik copper mine in northern Sweden, following damage to an internal tailings wall within the larger tailings containment and water settling facility. On the morning of Saturday September 9th an approximate 100 metre section of the containment wall which separates the area of course tailings deposition from the water settling stage of the tailings containment facility eroded, resulting in the release of water and tailings into the settling pond. To maintain the level in the settling pond, the excess water discharged into the settling pond was released into the surrounding watershed. 

The discharge of treated water from the mine site to the surrounding watershed is a common practice during the spring runoff period. At this time it is believed that the amount of metal contained in the water released as a result of this incident is well within the permitted levels for the operation during the course of the year. Once the erosion of the internal dam wall was noticed, production from the concentrator plant was halted and work began to repair the damaged wall. The mine and concentrator resumed production on Monday, September 11th.

The cause of the erosion of the internal wall is not yet known. A combination of both independent consultants and Boliden personnel have begun to investigate the cause of the incident. 

For further information: Lars-Ake Lindahl, Vice President, Environmental Affairs; or Thomas Atkins, Vice President, Investor and Public Relations, Boliden Limited, 3300 Bloor Street West, Suite 1500, West Tower, Etobicoke, Canada M8X 2X2, Telephone: (416) 364-2727; To request a free copy of this organization's annual report, please go to www.newswire.ca and click on reports(at)cnw./ (BOL.)