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REGIONAL NEWS - EUROPE Boliden Studying Further Aitik Expansion Boliden has launched a pilot study for a new expansion at its Aitik open-pit copper mine in Sweden's far north and is also investigating a new copper discovery, Laver, in Norrbotten, Sweden. Prelimin- ary estimates have classified the Laver deposit as an exploration result and not yet as a mineral resource. Mine-site exploration, coupled with a healthy trend in metal prices, has generat- ed an increase in Boliden's mineral resources in recent years, not least at Aitik. "Aitik is currently producing at an annual rate of 33 million mt of ore and is hence nearing the current expansion's goal of 36 million mt/y by 2014. The geological potential is substantial, our facility is very competitive, and we are therefore initiating a study to evaluate how we can take this further, initially to 45 million mt/y," Boliden CEO Lennart Evrell said. The potential for a later expansion to 65 million mt/y will also be evaluated. In 2011, Aitik mined 31.5 million mt of ore and produced 267,500 mt of con- centrate, with metal contents of 67,000 mt copper, 45 mt silver and 2.4 mt gold. Boliden CEO Lennart Evrell: "We will evaluate how we can take [Aitik] further." Aitik's present mineral reserve is 710 mil- lion mt at average copper grades of 0.25% and gold grades of 0.14 g/mt. Mineral resources stand at 1.67 million mt, meas- ured and indicated. The exploration results at Laver to date indicate mineralization of approximately 500 million to 700 million mt at a copper grade of between 0.15% and 0.25% and a gold grade of between 0.10 g/mt and 0.15 g/mt. The mineralization also contains sil- ver and molybdenum. The Laver deposit is located approximately 100 km north of the town of Boliden. AEM Enters JV on Finland's Hanhimaa Project Dragon Mining signed a Letter of Intent with Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM), whereby AEM can earn up to a 70% interest in the Hanhimaa gold project with the staged expenditure of €9 million over six years. The Hanhimaa project is located in northern Finland and covers portion of the highly prospective Central Lapland Greenstone Belt. The 360.2 km2 near contiguous holding encompass- es the north-south trending Hanhimaa Shear Zone, 10 km west of AEM's Kittila gold mine. Under the agreed terms, AEM will expend €5 million within three years of the commencement date to earn a 51% interest in the Hanhimaa gold project. Upon earning the 51% interest, AEM can then elect to earn an additional 19% by expending a further €4 million within three years of completion of the initial earn-in phase. Agnico-Eagle will be the manager during the earn-in and can with- draw at any time following expenditure of €1.5 million. 58 E&MJ; • JUNE 2012 www.e-mj.com