Boliden and Vattenfall to Power Mines and Smelters with Clean Energy

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Mining and smelting major Boliden (Stockholm, Sweden) has signed a partnership agreement with energy company Vattenfall (Stockholm, Sweden) to work toward the electrification of its European mines and smelters.

Under the four-year deal the companies will develop business solutions involving batteries, solar panels, electric transport and recycling of new-generation car batteries. Boliden operates six mining units and five smelters in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Ireland. The Swedish company is one of the world's leading zinc producers, owning the largest zinc mine in Europe at Tara in Ireland, and is the largest producer of copper and nickel in Europe.

"Boliden is one of Europe's largest players in the field of base metals," said President and Chief Executive Officer of Boliden Mikael Staffas, announcing the alliance with Vattenfall. "These metals are a crucial part of the solution for achieving ambitious climate targets in society. At the same time, it's clearly important for us to drive the development forward within the raw materials sector and identify business solutions and processes for both mining and recycling which will make us more competitive."

Magnus Hall, president and chief executive officer of Vattenfall, added: "It's great that Vattenfall and Boliden can work together on this. It will require technological change and investments in new solutions, but the opportunities are there for both companies. Industrial partnerships like this are crucial if we are to make progress on the electrification of industry and enable fossil-free living within one generation."

Boliden has mining and smelting operations in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Ireland, and according to the company, the main sources of fossil emissions include diesel vehicles, process heat and coke as a reducing agent. The company stated that "in all areas," fossil-free electricity can be an important part of the solution. The company is also a major player in the field of metals recycling, including the recycling of car batteries. As a first step in the partnership, modern energy solutions will be implemented at the Bergsöe lead smelter in Landskrona, which is one of Europe's largest recyclers of lead batteries from cars. Solar panels, which will produce locally generated renewable electricity to power the plant, will be installed shortly, Boliden said. Vattenfall also will help implement technical solutions involving battery storage that will reduce the load on the electricity grid, provide backup power, reduce peaks in capacity and offset renewable weather-dependent electricity generation.

The deal is the latest in a growing number of collaborations between energy firms and heavy industry majors looking to clean up their businesses while becoming more efficient. In February, Industrial Info reported that Vattenfall was working with Cementa AB on the first project globally to electrify the production of cement. The CemZero project at Cementa's factory in Slite on the island of Gotland in Sweden has shown that "technical prerequisites exist for electrified cement production." For additional information, see February 11, 2019 article - World's First 'Zero-Carbon' Cement Plant Project Advances in Sweden.

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