LKAB, Minerals | LKAB reports record-breaking exploration results

After the exploration work in 2023, the Swedish mining company LKAB’s total mineral discoveries have increased to 5.7 billion tonnes.

This is an increase of 43 per cent compared to 2022, and the largest increase ever, the company states in a press release.

At the end of last year, state-owned LKAB had found mineral reserves of more than 1.1 billion tonnes and resources of around 4.6 billion tonnes.

Reserves are minerals that are considered profitable to extract now, while resources are minerals that can be expected to be profitable to extract in the future.

The so-called Per Geijer deposit in Kiruna is now approaching 1 billion tonnes of total mineral resources, making it the largest rare earth deposit reported in Europe.

– These mineral resources reflect LKAB’s strong exploration work in recent years. The potential is great to be able to guarantee Sweden’s supply of iron ore, phosphorus and rare earth metals for many decades to come, says the company’s head of exploration, Ian Cope, in the press release.

Since its inception in 1890, LKAB has extracted a total of 2 billion tonnes of minerals.

The majority of the iron ore mined in Kiruna is transported to Narvik for shipment. LKAB runs ten trains each day fully loaded with iron ore on the Malmbanan, which on the Norwegian side has the name Ofotbanen. By weight, it amounts to more than all other freight traffic on rail in Norway combined.

(© NTB)