Swedish mining and smelting firm Boliden AB invested €40mn for an expansion of its nickel operations at Boliden Harjavalta, the only nickel smelter in Western Europe. The investment will be implemented in 2021.
The expansion project at Harjavalta would increase its annual feed capacity to 370,000mt from 310,000mt of raw material. The expansion plans also included a new concentrate dryer, granulation, automated tapping of molten metal and increased capacity in electric smelting furnace.
Boliden Harjavalta has an annual capacity to produce 26,000mt nickel and 120,000mt copper. Boliden’s expansion project will result in a 15-20pc decrease of carbon dioxide intensity of nickel produced per mt which will be a significant improvement towards environmental performance.
This project expansion would place Boliden in a strong position to meet the growing demand for nickel especially for battery manufacturing sector for the automotive industry.