Silver is, like gold, an important subsidiary metal in terms of Boliden's production processes and makes a positive contribution to profitability. Several of our mines have ores that contain significant amounts of silver. Our silver production totals around 500,000 kilos per year.
Pure silver is extracted at Rönnskär and Pori in the form of granules by pouring molten silver through a sieve into cold water. The advantage of using granules is that they are easy to weigh and handle. The silver produced by Rönnskär contains min. 99.99 per cent silver. The purity grade at Pori is min. 99.97 per cent. Approximately 25 per cent of the silver extracted at Rönnskär comes from recycling electronic scrap.