Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to search

    From mine to harbour

    Kaunis Iron’s open-pit mine in Pajala is just the starting point of the ore’s journey to customers around the world. Here you can read about the process to refine the much-wanted iron ore.

    Drilling and blasting

    In the open pit, holes are drilled first of all and filled with blasting agent. Usually, 150 – 300 holes are drilled, which are charged with 50-100 tonnes of blasting agent, which then releases 300,000-1,000,000 tonnes of rock and ore in each salvo. 

    Loading

    The ore released in blasting is lifted by front loaders into dumpers and then driven to be crushed in the primary crusher. 

    Crushing 

    The ore is tipped into the primary crusher, and when it has been crushed to the right dimension it travels on a long enclosed belt conveyor to the screening plant for sorting. 

    Sorting

    In the screening plant, the larger pieces are separated from the finer fragments before being transported to the stockpile where they are stored. 

    Storage

    In the ore stockpile, the ore is sent down into one of six compartments. Below the compartments, the right amount and composition of ore is dropped down to a belt conveyor underneath for further transport to the concentration plant. 

    Grinding

    In the concentration plant, grinding takes place in several stages. Magnet separation is used to separate the magnetite from the waste rock, which is then processed into a fine powder – finished concentrate. 

    Loading

    The ore is loaded onto covered lorries to be transported to the trains in Svappavaara. 

    Reloading onto trains

    At the railway terminal, the ore is reloaded from the lorries onto trains that transport the ore to Narvik. 

    Reloading onto ships

    In the ore harbour in Narvik, the ore is loaded into ships for further transport to the customer.

    The ore goes through these sections
     

    The primary crusher

    In the primary crusher, which resembles a gigantic mortar and pestle measuring 30 m, metre-sized blocks of ore are crushed into pieces measuring about 15 cm. 

    Screening

    In the screening plant, sorting takes place, where large chunks of ore are separated from finer pieces.

     Primary crusher

    Inside the concentration plant, the primary mill grinds the pieces of ore down to small grains measuring about 2.5mm. 

    Magnetic separators 1

    In the concentration plant, there are also magnetic separators. Here, the iron ore is grabbed by magnets and separated from other material.

     Vertical mill

    In the vertical mill, which is also in the concentration plant, the ore grains are ground down to a fine powder which can be compared to cornflour.

     Magnetic separators 2

    Here the ore is once again separated from other material with the help of magnets.

     Flotation

    A new part of the process is that the material goes through the flotation in the plant, where reagents are added to enrich the ore so that the finished end product has our requested product quality.

     Dewatering

    In the concentration plant, water is pressed out of the ore before it is filtered.