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NEWS-LEADING DEVELOPMENTS 4 E&MJ; • APRIL 2016 www.e-mj.com Boliden Acquiring First Quantum's Kevitsa Mine in Northern Finland Boliden has agreed to acquire First Quantum's open-pit Kevitsa nickel-cop- per-gold-PGM mine in northern Finland for $712 million in cash. The mine pro- cessed 6.7 million metric tons (mt) of ore in 2015 and produced 8,805 mt of nickel, 17,204 mt of copper, 12,847 oz of gold, 31,899 oz of platinum, and 25,196 oz of palladium in two separate concentrates. Boliden is headquartered in Stock- holm, Sweden, and currently operates mines in fve mining areas: Aitik, the Boliden Area, and Garpenberg in Swe- den; Kylylahti in Finland; and the Tara mine in Ireland. The company has copper smelters at Rönnskär, Sweden and Harja- valta, Finland; zinc smelters at Kokkola, Finland and Odda, Norway; and a lead smelter at Bergsöe, Sweden. Feed to the smelters is supplied through concentrates from Boliden's own mines and concen- trates and secondary raw materials from external suppliers. Boliden's internal cop- per concentrate production covers about 30% of its smelters' requirements, while the fgure for zinc smelters is about 65%. Regarding the Kevitsa acquisition, Bo- liden President and CEO Lennart Evrell said, "This is an attractive opportunity to acquire a high-quality mine with an ex- cellent operational and geographical ft with Boliden. The acquisition is consis- tent with Boliden's growth strategy. Kevit- sa started production at the end of 2012 and is an early stage mine, which we be- lieve can provide good synergies with our existing business in mining, concentrat- ing, smelting and regional exploration. It also establishes a nickel feed base load for our Harjavalta smelter. "The timing of the acquisition fts us well. Boliden has executed substantial expansion projects in recent years and is ready to take on a new major project. Together with the Kokkola and Harjavalta smelters and the Kylylahti mine, the ac- quisition of Kevitsa will expand Boliden's platform in Finland, an attractive geologi- cal region." The Kevitsa plant recovers copper and nickel in two separate fotation circuits. The two products are a nickel-copper- PGM-gold concentrate that grades close to 12% nickel and a copper-PGM-gold con- centrate that grades close to 28% copper. The concentrates are thickened, fltered and stored separately for transport. In 2015, nickel and copper account- ed for roughly 40% each of Kevitsa's net revenue, with gold, PGMs, and cobalt ac- counting for the remainder. The mine has 380 employees and about 200 contrac- tors. Boliden will fnance the acquisition through a committed 24-month bank fa- cility provided by Nordea Bank. First Quantum is a multinational mining company with mines in Zambia, Mauritania, Spain, Turkey and Finland. Following the sale of the Kevitsa mine, the company will continue to own and op- erate the Pyhäsalmi underground copper and zinc mine in central Finland. First Quantum is currently developing its 80% owned Cobre Panama copper project in Panama. The project is planned to produce about 320,000 mt/y of copper in concentrate over a mine life of more than 40 years. Construction was approxi- mately 39% complete as of early March. Ramp-up to design capacity is scheduled for 2018 and 2019. Capital expenditures are estimated at $5.48 billion. Western Australia Ranked Tops in 2015 for Mineral Investment Attractiveness Fraser Institute has released the results of its Survey of Mining Companies, 2015, which ranks 109 jurisdictions worldwide for government policies as they relate to mining, mineral potential and attractive- ness for mineral investment. The latter category, investment attractiveness, is a composite ranking that takes both govern- ment policies and mineral potential into consideration. The survey was released in early March. The 2015 survey questions were dis- tributed to approximately 3,800 min- ing industry managers and executives involved in mining exploration, devel- opment, and other related activities. A total of 449 responses were received. Companies that participated in the sur- vey reported exploration spending of $2.2 billion in 2015, down from $2.5 billion in 2014. The 2015 survey identifed Western Australia as the most attractive jurisdic- tion in the world for mining investment, up from fourth place in 2014. Saskatch- ewan remained in second place. Nevada dropped from frst to third. Ireland moved up 10 spots to fourth place. Rounding out Kevitsa (pictured here) is an early stage mine which we believe can provide good synergies with our existing busi- ness in mining, said Lennart Evrell, Boliden's president and CEO. (Photo: First Quantum)