Boliden is awarded equality prize

The prize was presented to Boliden's CEO Lennart Evrell by Minister for Enterprise Annie Lööf during an event in Gothenburg on Monday. The winner is chosen by the Industry Council, which consists of leading representatives of Swedish employer and union organisations within the industrial sector.

"Boliden, in close cooperation with the unions, has been focusing strongly on its corporate culture for a number of years in order to ensure safe jobs, high environmental performance and sound leadership. In order to attract the best possible expertise, we have worked to create a culture where both men and women can develop and flourish. We still have a long way to go, but this prize is important recognition and it will spur us on to be even better," says Lennart Evrell.

Prize justification: "A company within one of our most important basic industries, through conscious efforts, got women to become miners and has a smelter where the majority of the management are female. This is the company that promotes staff when they are on parental leave and emphasised the importance of paternal leave at an early stage. Thus the company not only explodes rocks, but also many prejudices about the mining industry. The Equality Prize 2013 goes to Boliden."