Swedish mining giant Boliden reported a significant boost in its third-quarter earnings, driven by strong production performance and rising metals prices. The company’s operating profit, excluding inventory revaluation, surged by 58% to 3.0 billion Swedish crowns ($274 million), up from 1.9 billion crowns in the same period last year. This exceeded analysts’ expectations, which had forecasted a profit of 2.3 billion crowns.
Boliden’s CEO, Mikael Staffas, attributed the strong performance to good mine production during the quarter, highlighting record ore output at the Garpenberg mine and a new production peak for gold at the Kankberg mine. Quarterly revenue also rose 14%, reaching 22.2 billion crowns, up from 19.4 billion crowns a year earlier.
Despite an early 8% rise in Boliden’s stock, shares later gave up their gains. Analysts at JPMorgan noted that while Boliden’s 2024 guidance remains unchanged, its outlook for 2025 appears weaker than expected.
Staffas expressed confidence that the company could meet its 2024 targets, despite challenges including delays to the Odda expansion project, now expected to start by the end of Q1 2025. Additionally, the company is preparing for the restart of its Tara mine, Europe’s largest zinc producer, and expects to receive insurance compensation of 935 million crowns in Q4 2024 related to last year’s fire at its Ronneskar smelter.
