Swedish-based
iron ore producer LKAB has announced that in December it has received the permit to resume operations at Gruvberget open-pit mine in Svappavaara, marking an important step for the company's plan to reach an annual output capacity of 37 million mt of
iron ore in 2015.
According to LKAB, in June 2012 the Swedish Supreme Court had rejected LKAB's appeal against the Land and Environment Court's rejection of its application for a
production permit for the open-pit Gruvberget mine, causing operations at the newly opened mine to stop immediately. Now the open-pit mine is back in full operation.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, LKAB, which accounts for 90 percent of
iron ore production in the EU, plans to increase its capacity by 35 percent by 2015 by opening three new open-pit mines in Svappavaara, Kiruna in Sweden.