The core of our business is high value-added iron ore products such as pellets and fines. We also offer other services and products, such as minerals, concrete, explosives and services in rock reinforcement, machining and steel construction.
Since 1890, LKAB has grown into an international group. Today we sell sustainable iron ore, mineral and specialty products to customers around the world, but our heart is still in the mine.
Iron, with the chemical name Fe, is by far the most important and cheapest metal in the world. In nature, iron is chemically bound to oxygen, water, carbon dioxide or sulphur in various minerals. Iron ore is a term that refers to deposits of iron-rich minerals with high enough iron content to be commercially exploited.
LKAB was founded in 1890 to start extracting iron ore from deposits in Gällivare and Kiruna. In the years since then, our business has grown – today we are an international mining and minerals group that sells a number of products and is present all over the world.
The basis for our development has been research and development as well as close collaboration internally and with our customers. This work has intensified even more in connection with our transition to a more sustainable mining and minerals industry.
In addition to iron ore products, our product portfolio today includes some 30 industrial minerals, drilling systems, explosives and workshop services. In addition, our subsidiaries not only supply other customers but are also central to our own production chain.
We produce the most iron ore in Europe, mined in Norrbotten and shipped to the rest of the world via Narvik and Luleå.
Iron ore is our main raw material and consists of magnetite, a grey-black iron oxide also known as black ore. It is mined in our mines in Kiruna and Gällivare. From magnetite we produce a number of products, mainly high-quality iron ore pellets and fines.
A large part of the world’s iron ore mines mostly mine hematite or hematite/goethite. In our mines, we mainly extract high-grade magnetite, which is the raw material for our production of enriched iron ore products.
Magnetite is naturally magnetic and also climate-friendly, as it requires less external energy input during enrichment and pellet production. LKAB also has one of the world’s most energy-efficient pellet plants, in which we mainly process the iron ore into blast furnace pellets and direct reduction pellets, but also fines.
Our products and services
LKAB:s kärnprodukter är järnmalmspellets och fines baserade på magnetit. Båda produkterna är högt anrikade samt kräver mindre energi och generar mindre slagg i stålproduktion än alternativen.
Minelco AB was founded in 1989 in Luleå. Since then the company has expanded and become part of LKAB as LKAB Minerals. Over time, the range has increased from supplying one mineral to around 30.
Right from the start, LKAB Minerals’ business concept was to develop products for industries other than the steel industry from what we extract in our mines. Today, our operations are located in 12 countries and the portfolio has expanded to some 30 minerals with 100s of application areas.
Minerals are solid inorganic substances found in nature. Each mineral has unique properties and is defined by a distinct chemical composition and structure. We refine and develop our mineral products to improve and customise the functions and properties that make them useful in specific contexts ranging from agriculture to industrial construction and coatings.
LKAB Berg & Betong has been supplying concrete and construction work of the highest quality since 1961, first as a family business and now as part of LKAB. We are a leading supplier in sustainable and quality-conscious concrete production, rock work and crushing.
LKAB Berg & Betong supplies and carries out contracts for both the group company and other customers. In addition to operating sites in LKAB’s mines, we have the main responsibility for rock reinforcement including bolting, netting, cable bolting and concrete spraying in the same mines and to Zinkgruvan outside Askersund.
We have one of the largest productions of concrete in Sweden with state-of-the-art factories in Kiruna and Gällivare. In production, we reuse sidoberg – a residual material from mining. It’s a smart and efficient cycle. We also work hard and purposefully to develop a completely carbon-free value chain.
Founded in 1988, LKAB Wassara has been at the forefront of water-powered drilling technology for over 30 years. We develop, manufacture and sell energy-efficient, high-performance drilling products and systems for both surface and underground drilling and measurement.
Today, LKAB Wassara’s solutions are used by leading mining, construction and geothermal companies around the world. We help them achieve their drilling goals while maintaining the highest standards of safety and sustainability.
LKAB Wassara offers a range of drilling systems and tools that utilise a unique water-powered technology to deliver superior drilling performance and environmental sustainability. Each product category is designed to meet specific drilling needs, providing exceptional performance, durability and adaptability.
LKAB's need for high-quality, efficient and functionally safe explosives for mining was the starting point for LKAB Kimit, which was founded in 1975. Today we sell emulsion explosives in bulk and packaged form and manufacture charging vehicles.
We manufacture, stock and distribute emulsion explosives in bulk and packaged form. LKAB Kimit is today one of Sweden’s largest explosives manufacturers – our factory in Kiruna accounts for one third of Sweden’s total production.
Our main product is called Kimulux and is a CE labelled and water resistant emulsion explosive of the highest quality. We also sell KP primers, capsule enhancers, booster and gassing liquids, and manufacture and provide loading vehicles to ensure safe handling of the explosives we produce.
Do you want to know more about our explosives and loading vehicles or are you looking for information and data sheets on quality and safety?
Since its establishment in 1975, LKAB Mekaniska has played an important role in the group's technical and productive growth. We develop, design and deliver services and components within machining and steel construction.
LKAB Mekaniska’s experience and expertise has resulted in assignments for Atlas Copco, Sandvik and NASA, among others. We work with everything from service operations to maintenance stops in industry. With two large workshops in Kiruna, we also have high capacity for manufacturing machine parts and steel structures.
We repair and maintain fans, hot-air furnaces, coal plants and flue gas cleaning systems, and have produced everything from lightweight components for satellites to 60-tonne capacity lifting arms for slag trucks in smelters.
In our manufacturing we produce work baskets, conveyor belt control and our patented WRC system, a screw with a conical head that forms an almost homogeneous surface with the wear plate. We can also help you with design, construction, implementation, production and maintenance.
LKAB is currently developing several products that will be a large part of our core business in the future. These are mainly sponge iron and critical minerals, which are important in the global transition to a more sustainable future.
The world is facing a major challenge in transitioning to a sustainable future. We want to make an even greater contribution to this by producing a number of new products that will make Europe more self-sufficient and enable us to produce carbon-free steel, for example.
At the heart of this development are:
Follow the links below to read more about the products of the future and our transition.
