Boliden is continuing to invest in its Rönnskär copper smelter in Sweden, with plans to fund a SEK350 million ($38.9 million) expansion to increase raw material processing capacity by 12%.

The investment in new production capacity, which is expected to be commissioned at the start of 2021, follows the ongoing SEK1.4 billion investment programme in the deep repository and leaching plant at Rönnskär, which began in 2015 and continues until 2020.

Boliden’s latest investment is in the converter aisle and sulphuric acid plant at Rönnskär. The capacity to process raw materials at Rönnskär will increase 12% following this investment, Boliden said.

Kerstin Konradsson, President Boliden Smelters, said: “The ongoing investment programme at Rönnskär means both improved resource utilisation and increased capacity. The investment we have now decided on shows goods profitability and means that we strengthen the smelter’s long-term competitiveness.”

In addition to the already announced investment at Rönnskär, decisions have been made to replace the existing slag crusher with the aim of improving the possibilities to return slag products to processes both at Rönnskär and in the Boliden area’s concentrator.

Boliden says Rönnskär, in Skelleftehamn, is one of the world’s most efficient copper smelters. It is a world leader in electronics recycling thanks to investments and developments in Kaldo technology, according to the company.

The smelter extracts primarily copper, gold and silver from these materials, with 219,000 t of copper, 34,000 t of zinc clinker, 28,000 t of lead, 505,000 t of sulphuric acid, 484,906 kg of silver and 13,109 kg of gold produced last year.