Early one morning in August, the Boliden concentrate works outside Gällivare, Sweden, suffered a massive breakdown. For several days, no one could be certain how it would end. Close cooperation and total commitment proved decisive. Mikael Burck was fast asleep when alarm sounded. The world’s most productive opencast copper mine had a big problem. Boliden's Aitik Mine outside Gällivare in far northern Sweden produced copper, silver and gold worth 3.5 billion kronor ($420 million) in 2014. A breakdown in the long pipe network between drilling and transport would be unthinkable. Just before 5 a.m. on August 13, 2015, Kent Engman was sit- ting in the control room at Aitik and noticed that the pressure in the line had dropped. It was probably not a big problem, but Engman still ha

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