Swedish advanced iron ore products producer LKAB has announced that it has applied for a permit from the County Administrative Board of Norrbotten, Sweden, to start test mining of 300,000 mt of iron ore in Mertainen, near Svappavaara, in order to learn more about the ore body. The company hopes to receive an affirmative reply soon to start test mining in April 2011.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, LKAB's strategy is to grow with its customers and to boost annual production from a current 27 million mt of iron ore products per year to 35-40 million mt by 2015 with SEK 5 billion ($747 million) in investments a year.
Accordingly, LKAB plans to exploit three iron ore mines near Svappavaara in Sweden that represent, in total, 300 million mt of iron ore with an iron content of nearly 60 percent, in an attempt to boost its ore products output.
The Gruvberget mine that started operations this summer has been gradually increasing production, and is expected to reach 2 million mt of crude ore per year in early 2011. The ore body contains bodies of both magnetite and hematite, but only the magnetite will be mined initially.
The third mine the company looks to develop is the Malmberget mine.