Kiruna Mine Soon in Operation Again after Record-Strong Earthquake

On 18 May 2020, a mine in the town of Kiruna, Northern Sweden collapsed when Sweden’s largest-ever earthquake hit a magnitude of 4.8 on the Richter scale. Since then, mining operator LKAB has worked to restore the area that was hit, which is referred to as Block 22. Soon, production will be up and running again.

LKAB Mining Chief in Kiruna Joel Kangas says to Swedish broadcaster SVT that they will start production shooting in grey rock in April, and that production shooting in the iron rock will commence some time in 2022. He assumes that there will be full production by mid-2023.

The Block 22 area has affected the balance of the entire mine and thus the entire production. Therefore the balance, the so-called sequencing between the different sections of the mine, will have to be restored.

“Overall, we estimate a 15 to 20 percent production drop during this period”, Kangas says to SVT.