OPERATION FOCUS Sweden

Ironclad
Kiruna

John Chadwick examines the new main production level at one of the worlds
most technically innovative sub-level cave mines

nderground mines with reserves to

depth must be deepened at regular
intervals. The present main level in
Kiruna iron ore mine, at 1,045 m, is the sixth
since underground mining began in 1957.
When the 1,045-m level was developed, it was
estimated that it would support mining until
the year 2015, or perhaps beyond. But higher
production justified by great demand for iron
ore today necessitates a more rapid rate of
vertical development than expected.
It was late in 2008 that LKAB's Board
approved the construction of the new main
haulage level. The investment is the single
largest in the company's history. This huge
investment in a new main level will mean that

LKAB's iron ore mining and processing

operations in Kiruna are ensured until 2030.
The investment includes work in the mine, at a
cost of more than SEK13 billion, for the
construction of infrastructure such as roads,
ventilation and hoisting systems, etc., which
has been under way since 2006.
To date, more than 1,000 Mt of iron ore
have been mined. The ore reserves mined from
the present main level are expected to last until
about 2012. In the past, main levels in the
Kiruna mine have been at the 275, 320, 420,
540 and 775 m levels (below the original peak
of the Kiirunavaara hill). The current main level
is at 1,045 m. The new main level (KUJ 1365) is
expected to be partly operational by 2012.

The mine selected Nordic Mine Technology

(NMT) to design, manufacture and supply the
rail haulage system for the new haulage level at
1,365 m. This will be Kiruna's seventh rail haulage
level since late 1950. Every level in the mine has
been designed for increased capacity, efficiency
and longer life. These rail haulage levels are, by
far, the most efficient in the world with automated
rail haulage in operation since the late 1980s.
The nominal capacity on Level 1,365 m will
be 100,000 t/d or about 35 Mt/y of high grade
iron ore. This ore haulage system will consist of
six trains, each with 20 NMT cars of 17 m3
capacity. The cars are of the bottom dumping
type, designed for continuous loading and
unloading. Unloading stations are of NMT

OPERATION FOCUS Sweden

design and loading chutes are of LKAB/NMT

joint design. All the equipment is designed and
manufactured to resist wear and impact from
large and heavy iron ore for a minimum of 25
years. NMT designs the rail haulage systems
and the equipment, such as mine cars,
unloading stations and chutes based on
parameters obtained from the client.
Many of the components that make up the
overall system are made from abrasive-resistant
wear material. The loading chute, for example,
is fabricated using a sandwich design and wear
liners to ensure the main structure has an
extended life that enables the gravity unload
system to handle sticky/wet muck or large
boulders up to 1 m x 1 m x 2 m in size.
The chute can be operated from a remote
pendant or a remote station underground or
on the surface and the system has a backup
fail-safe system to ensure full closure of all
cylinders in the event of a power failure or
emergency stop application.
The rail cars themselves are also made from
abrasion-resistant wear plate, forged rail
wheels, automatic couplers and a fully
engineered suspension system. NMT's materials
handling system is designed to include a 20-car
train; during field testing the first car was
configured with instrumented wheel sets to
monitor forces to help prevent derailment due
NMT says this system (seen being tested during the
design for Kiruna) has a 30-35 year life expectancy
before any major rebuild is required with an expected
haulage capacity of 35 Mt/y.

10 International Mining JULY 2010

to speed and loads, while the second car in the

train was strain gauged to monitor the forces
applied to the car body during loading and
unloading.
Each car is equipped with a bottom door
that follows a structural and wear-lined scroll
beam using a hardened wheel installed on the
centre of the rear axle. This enables the car to
fully discharge before commencing any uphill
travel and closing of the bottom door.
While in the unloading station, side roller
wheels are used to support the train as it rides
over the station's discharge chutes and propulsion
devices are used to propel the train through the
station at a constant, controlled speed when
only one locomotive is being used on the train.

Two fully-mechanised Atlas Copco Boltec LC bolting

rigs at work on the mine's complementary
reinforcement project. Here, 3 m coated Swellex bolts
are being installed along with wire mesh

The unloading station starts and stops

automatically using track sensors and tag
readers. Due to the design of the gravityunload system, the car completely discharges
regardless of whether the ore is sticky/wet or
completely dry.
In the process of selecting a supplier, LKAB
evaluates the total cost for the system it plans
to introduce. This total economic evaluation
includes total capital cost over the expected 25
years life for the system (upfront capital cost,

OPERATION FOCUS Sweden

The orebody in Kiruna is about 4 km long and has an
estimated depth of 2 km. Sublevel caving is the
mining method and Kiruna is a world leader in the
technique. Illustration: LKAB

The five sub-vertical hoists serving the 1,365

m level each have a capacity of 1,510 t/h
operating at 17 m/s. There are six ropes per
hoist on 3.25 m diameter pulleys. Each has a
payload of 34 t and weighs 43 t, including rope
attachment. The motor power is 5,600 kW at a
voltage of 3 x 3,150 V developing a speed of
100 rpm at 13.3 Hz.

Trackless treasure

number of trains/cars per train and locomotive

requirements and equipment economical life)
together with total operation cost over same
period of time (personnel cost, maintenance
cost and system/equipment reliability). In this
evaluation, the upfront capital cost for mine
cars, unloading stations, chutes and
locomotives represents a small percentage of
the total cost over the lifespan of the system.
NMT reports that by selecting an NMT
system (high speed and continuous loading
design) it can reduce the number of cars per
train; the total trains required and the size of
locomotive. This in turn results in reduced
requirements for ventilation, initial capital and
reduced energy consumption.
All the equipment was manufactured and
tested at NMT's facility in North Bay, Ontario.

New sub-vertical hoist

ABB will deliver a new complete mine hoist for
a sub-vertical shaft in the mine. This is the first
hoist to be installed for operation from the new
mining level at 1,365 m. ABB has also recently
rebuilt the electrical equipment for four hoists

at Kiruna so they are prepared for operation from

the new mining level. ABBs new mine hoist will
help the mine meet the expanded production
capacity from the new main mining level.
ABBs delivery includes complete mechanical
and electrical equipment for the new shaft,
which has a hoisting distance of 710 m. The
delivery also includes the electrical and
mechanical installation, commissioning and
training. The delivery is scheduled for
completion in the middle of 2012.
ABB is providing a comprehensive solution
for the mine, from filling the skip with ore at
1,365 m to the discharge of the ore at subvertical level, with the supply of complete
electrical and mechanical equipment. This
means optimised production capacity based on
total installed equipment, says Kjell Carlsten,
of ABB.
We have confidence in ABB, says Hans
Engberg from LKAB. Earlier deliveries, as well as
ABB's expertise on mine hoist and related
equipment, were important in the development
of the concept for this new delivery. The concept
is a joint development by ABB and LKAB.

Mines all over the world have long looked to

Kiruna to see the development and implementation
of the latest in trackless mining, as well as the
rail systems noted above (IM, June 2008,
pp22-28). Each year, the mine planning
department orders development work on the
basis of the forecast demand for products as
well as current knowledge of the status of the
orebody. Development drifts are driven right
through the orebody using electro-hydraulic
drill jumbos. For each charge, as many as 60
holes are drilled. Each hole is about 5 m deep.
The drifts can be up to 80 m long. If necessary,
the walls and ceiling of the drift are reinforced
with rock bolts and/or shotcrete. When
development is complete, i.e., when several
drifts have been driven in the same area,
production drilling can begin.
Kirunas technical leadership led to the
Wassara water hammer which with drill tubes
filled with water, and very low velocity cuttings
being transported on the outside, extends the
life of the tubes compared to both DTH and
top hammer drilling. At LKAB, where the
system has produced more than 12 Mm of
drilling, the average lifetime of 89 mm
diameter drill tubes is some 3035,000 m.
There is also great potential for indirect cost
reductions, effected by straighter drilling of
long holes. These include:
Lower development costs

nordic mine technology inc.

Supplier of haulage solutions for the mining and construction industries.
Products and services include:
Mine Cars
Truck and Mine Car loading
stations
Mine Car unloading stations
Automation of all our
products

Special studies on transportation

system costs and capacity optimization.
Studies of your present loading and/or
transportation system for possible
improvements and operation cost
reductions.

North Bay, Ontario, Ph: (705) 474-2777, Fax: (705) 474-5083, Email: sales@nordicmine.com, Web: www.nordicmine.com

12 International Mining JULY 2010

OPERATION FOCUS Sweden

Production drilling with DTH technology
Uphole fan automation
Automatic hammer and drill bit change
Remote control for drilling and boom
movements unlimited number of machines
and remote control places
Onboard/contol room system for programming,
monitoring, diagnostics, parametrisation and
configuration no extra tools are needed for
control system maintenance
Electric tramming between fans done by the
operators.
Normal drift dimensions for operation of the
DL520-W are 6.5 m width and 5 m height. It has
a 90 turning radius in a 6 m wide drift. It will
Kiruna has 16 of the biggest underground loaders
ever built the Sandvik LH625E (25 t capacity electric)

Larger scale of operation lower cost per

tonne
Less dilution
No need for extra drilling and less explosives
needed
Better fragmentation less handling of
boulders.
Wassaras Pl Jensen explains how the larger
scale of operations has reduced cost/tonne. The
Wassara water hammer helped Kiruna expand
the tonnage from its stopes from 1,200 t (with
a 12 m vertical difference between sublevels) in
1985, to 22 m between sublevels in 1991, to
25 m between sublevels in 1995, which raised
the stope tonnage to 10,000 t. The blastholes
for the 25 m sublevel differences can be as long
as 55 m drilled. The hammer has helped reduce
costs in all steps of operation from planning
to hauling. Its effect on drift development for
the stopes has been dramatic, allowing that to
be cut by 70%. Furthermore, the average
deviation for Wassara holes is just 1.05%.

IPM is now Siemens

Solo/Wassara combination
One of the latest production developments
involves Sandviks DL520-W Solo jumbos
mounted with Wassara DTH drills. LKAB had
come to Sandvik with various requests for
production drilling:
More effective process
Improved quality of the drilling process
Reduced cost of capital and mining
operations
Improved hole accuracy
Increased reliability of the drilling process.
The result was a technology development
based on those requirements with input from
LKAB and Wassara. It is a high specification
machine that features a high level of
automation. There is a high level of unit
reliability due to its high utilisation. Some of its
major features are:

Industrial Process Machinery (IPM), Manchester, NH, is now a part

of Siemens Water Technologies!
IPM provides high-capacity filter presses for mineral concentrates, tailings and other
high solids dewatering applications. Siemens will offer IPM's unique MC filter press
line worldwide, incorporating them into the existing Siemens dewatering product
portfolio, which includes the J-Press line of filter presses for Merrill-Crowe, acid
mine drainage and other industrial processes. For more information visit our
website, call 1.603.666.0726 or e-mail dewatering.water@siemens.com.

www.siemens.com/filterpress

JULY 2010 International Mining 13

OPERATION FOCUS Sweden

 $EVELOPING

 $RILLINGARAISE

 0RODUCTIONDRILLING

a number of Kirunas LHDs, were remotecontrolled. Here again, Kiruna was a world
leader.
That system was shut down recently and
Kiruna has ordered Sandviks AutoMine-Lite
system (IM, January 2010, pp50-52) and one
additional LH621 for testing and evaluating the
automation system. The AutoMine-Lite system
is to be installed and started up during the
autumn of this year and the LH621 will be
delivered during the summer. The mine already
operates three Sandvik LH621s (21 t capacity
diesel LHDs).

Better bolting

 0RODUCTIONDRILLING
ANOTHERVIEW

 3UBLEVELCAVING
BLASTING

 3UBLEVELCAVING
ANOTHERVIEW

 ,OADING

 $UMPINGINTOORE
PASSANDLOADINGTO
TRAINSATMAINLEVEL

 $UMPINGTOCRUSHER
STATIONANDSHIP
HOISTING

Mining in Kiruna. Illustration: LKAB

tram at 12 km/h and 6 km/h up a 1:7

inclination. For production drilling the hole
diameter is 115 mm, with 2.3 m long tubes. A
full carousel will allow a total 60 m blasthole
length.
The cassette (automatic changing) holds
eight Wassara DTH water hammers. Water
consumption is 330 litres/min at 180 bar (water
pump input max 110 kW; hydraulic pump 55
kW). The rig is equipped with an on board
water fitration system.
There is a system for automatic data transfer
using LKABs network. The transfer is media
independent (USB, GPRS, WLAN). There is also
IREDES-based reporting of performance, hole
quality and MWD. Fleet status observation is
available on the office PC via Web server. There
is an easy-to-use touch display on board and in
the remote control room.
The installed hole length capacity is 60 m
and the results have been impressive. The
average hole length in Kiruna is around 35 m,

14 International Mining JULY 2010

with the longest drilled holes being some 55 m.

The average penetration rate is 0.8 m/min
(dependant on location). A maximum daily
drilling rate of 613 m has been achieved. The
average Hammer life is 2,000 m before service.
Each rig produces about 120,000 drill m/y. Hole
accuracy has been excellent.
There are usually ten blastholes drilled in
each fan. When a pattern of holes has been
drilled, the rig is moved back 3 m, then drilling
of the next fan pattern begins. About 20 fans
will be drilled in an 80-m drift. Once drilling is
completed in the entire drift, the holes can be
charged with explosive.
A charging robot injects explosive into the
blastholes. The explosive is manufactured by
LKABs own explosives company. Blasting is
done every night and each round brings down
about 10,000 t of ore.

Automated load and haul

Electric LHDs load and haul the ore to
orepasses located along the orebody. Each LHD
carries a bucket payload of 21-25 t. In the past,

The new level is requiring a major rock

reinforcement program. The work is divided
into three main projects; rock support of new
drifts, of the new haulage route and
complementary support work for the mines
older drifts and tunnels. For the older drifts, Nils
Stenberg, Project Manager, LKAB reports: So
far, in just one year, we have installed more
than 40,000 bolts. And we expect to put a
further 100,000 in place before we finish. After
that the only bolts being installed will be for
newly constructed drifts.
Ease and speed of installation were key
factors in selecting both the type of bolts to
use and the equipment and manpower to
install them, given the huge numbers of bolts
to be installed. In this regard, LKAB took an
holistic approach, not only in the selection of
effective equipment, but also in planning the
training of operators to make sure the work
could be done according to schedule.
A range of Atlas Copco products were
chosen including 10 Boltec LC fully mechanised
bolting rigs, a Cabletec cable bolting rig, a
Boomer E2 C rig for bolthole drilling and
Swellex bolts. The Boltecs feature two booms;
one for drilling, injecting and bolt installation
and one for handling and holding wire mesh in
place during installation. The drilling boom
features a ten-bolt carousel and can install a
wide range of bolts including Swellex, rebar
and split set types. Before the bolts and mesh
screens are installed, scaling is performed
followed by the application of shotcrete
reinforced with metal or plastic strips.
The Atlas Copco Swellex coated bolt is
normally the roof bolt of choice. Both the
3- and 2.4 m versions of this inflatable rock
bolt designed to provide instant loading
capacity along its entire length are used. It is
the Mn24 Manganese Swellex bolt, with a
breaking load of 240 kN. Its size is determined
by the cross section of the drift, with 2.4 m
bolts used in the smaller drifts (height and
width under 5 m).

OPERATION FOCUS Sweden

One of the latest production developments involves

Sandvik's DL520-W Solo jumbos mounted with
Wassara DTH drills

The Boltec LC is designed to install bolts of

between 1.5- and 6 m in length in roof heights
of up to 12 m. It features heavy-duty booms
for fast and accurate positioning between
holes, which at Kiruna are placed every 11.5
m apart depending on the expected load on
the rock being reinforced. The mesh and bolts
are normally placed from 1 m above the floor.
The rigs feature an automatic cement handling
system, though this capability is not required
for the Swellex bolts. The ratio of water to
cement in the mix can be controlled via the Rig
Control System. In other parts of the mine, the
Boltec installs Kiruna bolts. The changeover
from Swellex bolts to the Kiruna bolt requires an
adjustment of the magazine to accommodate
the new bolt length.
The target we are aiming for is 1,600 bolts
per Boltec per month, says Stenberg, but we
are achieving an average of around 1,200
today. This is mainly due to time lost adjusting
the boom when we change over from one bolt
size to another. In the best months however, we
have installed 4,000 bolts using one rig, so we
know what the rig and operators are capable of.
After the bolt hole has been drilled, the
unexpanded bolt is transferred from the booms
carousel to the hole. Once in place, the booms
water injector connects to the protruding end
of the bolt and water is injected at 300 bar.
This pressure forces the bolt to expand into the
walls of the hole providing instant support. The
bolts can withstand high deformation levels
and so are able to accommodate ground
movements and are not sensitive to blasting
vibrations. Further benefits include chemical
and grout-free installation and the fact that the

Swellex bolt is not affected by voids, water or

joints in the host rock.
LKAB runs its own comprehensive training
program, the goal of which is to ensure that
well trained operators are ready to use
equipment whenever and wherever needed.
The program is divided into modules and
begins with safety and underground orientation
training before moving on to drilling, bolting,
explosives handling, shotcreting and scaling.

Kiruna
growth
The company has been
granted an
environmental permit
for the new mine at
Gruvberget, near the
village of Svappavaara
in the Municipality of
Kiruna. LKABs
president, Lars-Eric
Aaro commented:
now we can open
LKABs first iron ore
mine in 50 years.
The ruling by the
Environmental Court
means that LKAB can
move ahead with plans
to increase production
of finished products by
10 Mt/y. Were aiming
for 37 Mt, and
Gruvberget will be an
important step towards
reaching that target.
We must do this to be
able to keep pace with
our customers who
wish to grow. Since the

completion of our investments in new

pelletising plants and upgraded logistics, the
mines have been the bottleneck in the chain of
production. Quite simply, we need more iron
ore, says Aaro.
The new mine will be an open pit mine and
the plan is to gradually increase production to
at most 2 Mt/y of crude ore.
The open pit that is to be initially mined
holds about 12 Mt of mineable ore. We are
aware that there is at least 25 Mt of magnetite,
and the ore is open at depth. This means the
life expectancy of the mine could extend
beyond the first planned phase of eight years,
explains Per-Erik Lindvall, Senior Vice President
Technology & Business Development.
In addition to Gruvberget, LKAB wants to
open a new mine in Mertainen, about 15 km
outside of Svappavaara, and reopen the old
open pit at Leveniemi, which will have to be
drained. These three new mines represent
reserves of more than 300 Mt of iron ore with
an iron content of nearly 60%. All three are
close to LKABs infrastructure and processing
plants. That makes this investment the best iron
ore development project in all of Europe, says
Lindvall. Leveniemi production is expected to
commence within three to five years. At
Mertainen an application for test drilling will be
submitted during 2010. IM

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JULY 2010 International Mining 15