Our products and services
The core of our business is built on highly processed iron ore and mineral products such as pellets and fines. We also offer other services and products, such as rock reinforcement and workshop services, and various types of concrete and explosives.
The magic magnetite
Our raw material, iron ore, is mined in our mines in Kiruna and Gällivare municipalities. It consists mainly of magnetite, a grey-black iron oxide that is also known as black ore. Magnetite is naturally magnetic and also climate-friendly, as it requires less external energy input for enrichment and pellet production.
LKAB has several of the world’s most energy-efficient pellet plants, in which we mainly process iron ore into blast furnace pellets and direct reduction pellets.
80%
LKAB mines 80% of all iron ore in the EU.
60%
In our refinement process, 60% of the heat produced is recycled.
30
LKAB Minerals sells around 30 industrial minerals.
Our iron ore pellets
Using pellets instead of sinter (larger pieces of iron ore) in customers’ ironmaking processes saves emissions at steel mills. The high concentration of iron in our pellets also results in lower emissions during iron production at customers’ sites.
Blast furnace pellets are used in steel production and are ready for the blast furnace upon delivery. Our product adds great value to that process, as it contains various minerals that improve the high-temperature properties.
Customers who produce steel in electric steel furnaces use our direct reduction pellets, commonly abbreviated as DR pellets, instead. Our high pellet quality generates less slag, lower energy consumption, higher productivity and lower maintenance and wear in steelmaking.
Fines
Fines are finely crushed iron ore that our customers melt together to form pieces called sinter. It is also used to make iron in blast furnaces. As with our pellets, the iron content of our fines is also very high; it is over 70%, which makes it highly sought after on the market.
Next generation of products
Our customers’ needs are changing. As the world shifts, LKAB is leading the transformation of our industry towards a sustainable future. The next generation of iron ore products is carbon-free and already under development.
Read more about sponge ironOur other products and services
A combination of research and development and customer collaboration has broadened our portfolio of proprietary and innovative products and services.
The subsidiaries within the LKAB Group are important cogs that work together and make the production chain of iron ore products work, but they also supply external customers.
The subsidiaries within the LKAB Group are important cogs that work together and make the production chain of iron ore products work, but they also supply external customers.
Iron ore and minerals in everyday life
You use the raw materials we supply every day in your everyday life. They're in mobile phones, bicycles, prams, electric cars, roads and buildings around the world.
