If Sandvik is prioritising delivery of underground mining equipment to its great northern benefactor, LKAB, who could blame it? The Kiruna iron ore mine in Sweden’s north has been writing (big) cheques for local manufacturers for more than 100 years.
The state-owned miner expects to start taking delivery of its 17 new Sandvik automated loaders within weeks after agreeing to spend a further US$24 million or so on the machines. It placed a $11.5 million order for Sandvik robot loaders in Q2 this year.
The huge machines – 12 Toro LH625iE cable-electric loaders and five LH621i loaders – are produced across the Gulf of Bothnia in Finland.
All units have Sandvik’s AutoMine technology.
Deliveries are scheduled to continue through to the end of 2025.
“We are proud of our long-standing partnership with LKAB and very pleased to again provide new automated loaders to the Kiruna mine,” Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions president Mats Eriksson said.
“The very strong performance of our automated loaders is well-proven in the Kiruna mine, and we look forward to continuing to support LKAB’s goals to mine more sustainably and productively.”
Kiruna will have 20 LH625iE cable-electric loaders when the last of the new ones is working.
LKAB and Sandvik collaborated on the design of the loaders when they agreed Kiruna’s aging fleet of LH625E machines weren’t going to last forever.
