A raw material guarantee ensures Boliden's supply of copper

Finnvera has issued a raw material guarantee covering USD 250 million of the senior debt, linked to a ten year offtake agreement for 75,000 tpa of copper concentrate with Boliden Commercial AB. The concentrate will be processed in Boliden’s Harjavalta smelter in Finland.

The Project will extend the life of Mantoverde copper mine to at least 2041. Upon completion of the expansion project, Mantoverde mine will produce an average of 110 kt of copper and 33 koz of gold per year from 2023 to 2030. The capital cost of the expansion project is approximately USD 784 million.

Mantoverde Development Project (MVDP) is a brownfield copper project in the Atacama region of Chile that involves the building of a copper concentrator and associated facilities to process ore from the sulphide deposit at Mantoverde. It will expand the current Mantoverde operation that has been producing cathodes by processing ore from the oxide deposit for the past 25 years.

Financing of the MVDP incorporates USD 571.6 million senior debt financing package with terms and conditions typical to mining sector limited recourse project financing and closed with top-tier lending syndicate of international mining banks and export credit agencies.

From Finnvera’s point of view, this is a Category A project, and as such subject to comprehensive environmental and social impact assessments related to responsible financing. Typically the assessments are related to governance, employees’ rights and working conditions, emissions, land acquisition and impacts on surrounding communities, as well as impacts on biodiversity, among other things. The project must meet local legal requirements and they are also compared to international standards.

The Project’s environmental and social impact has been described in the PDF-file: ”The Executive Summary, Mantoverde Development Project EIS, Atacama Region, Chile January 2017, ERM Chile S.A. (PDF)"