Maintenance-related outages are likely to impact Swedish miner Boliden’s 2021 profitability by SEK500mn ($59.72mn). Of this total, an impact of SEK30mn is expected from shutdowns in Q2 2021, SEK320mn in Q3, and SEK150mn in Q4, the company noted in its Q1 2021 earnings report released on Tuesday.
In the first quarter, the company’s mining output for zinc increased by 6pc to 67,554mt against 63,567mt in the same quarter last year. Copper production, however, reduced by 16pc to 24,455mt from 29,059mt driven by the operations suspensions at the company’s Aitik and Tara mines during the quarter.
Boliden mined 2,974mt of nickel in Q1 2021 up, 13pc from 2,635mt in the same prior-year quarter, while its lead output increased by 10pc to 13,855mt from 12,540mt in the same time frame.
The output of refined zinc at Boliden’s smelters fell in the first quarter by 4pc to 121,953mt from 127,296mt in Q1 2020, while refined copper production increased by 2pc to 96,762mt against 96,243mt in the same period.
Production of nickel in matte decreased by 16pc during the quarter to 6,002mt from 7,124mt in Q1 2020 due to the low energy content of the material at the company’s Harjavalta smelter. Refined lead production also declined, dropping 6pc to 19,963mt from 21,131mt during the same period.
Boliden’s revenue from sales of ores and refined metals increased during the quarter, aided by higher commodity prices and improving demand. The company’s revenue from mines increased to SEK4.7bn in Q1 2021 from SEK3.6bn in the same quarter last year, while its revenue from smelters rose to SEK16.91bn from SEK13.12bn.
It reported an operating profit of SEK2.7bn in the first quarter, up from SEK1.4bn in Q1 2020. Boliden’s net profit also increased during the same period to SEK2.17bn from SEK 1.06bn.
($1=SEK8.37)