Silver Mine

The cash-flow producing mining operations at the Finnish Sotkamo silver mine were launched in 2019 and ramped up to a stable level in 2020. During the mine's operation, Sotkamo Silver has further invested in the production process and its cost-effectiveness by increasing the capac-ity of the concentration plant by 10–20%. The investments made on drilling and deepening the tunnel will also enable excavation in new areas where the average silver content is higher than in 2022.

Sotkamo Silver has approximately 50 personnel in plan-ning and supervising the mining operations, the actual mining operations are carried out by a subcontractor with approximately 70 personnel. The majority of personnel and other production costs are variable.

Of the metals produced in the silver mine, zinc and lead, in addition to silver, are vital in many key areas. Zinc is used in rust protection, electroplating, alkaline batteries and various metal alloys. Lead is still widely used in conven-tional batteries, radiation shielding and stainless materials.

All high quality concentrates produced at the silver mine have been agreed to be delivered for further refining to smelters in Sweden and Finland, and the Company needs no special sales efforts in terms of production.