APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090018-7
Sweden's resources of metallic minerals are concentrated in three geographic areas: the largest deposits of high-grade iron ores are found in Norrbotten province (Lapland); the deposits that supply most of Sweden's copper, lead, zinc, and pyrite ores are in the northern Vasterbotten and southern Norrhotten provinces; and nonferrous ores are also found in south-central Sweden. The Norrbotten ores are mostly exported, and the domestic iron and steel industry's requirements are supplied by ores from south-central Sweden.
The heaviest concentration of metal industries is in the southern part of the country near consuming centers and well-maintained port facilities. Two important exceptions are the government-owned steelworks at Lulea on the Baltic coast in northern Sweden, and the nonferrous metal smelting complex at Ronnskar.
The transportation requirements of the minerals and metals industry are efficiently met by the existing highway, rail, and coastal shipping systems, in spite of adverse climatic conditions in the area, rail lines from the important Lapland ore deposits to the seaports of Narvik, Norway, and Lulea, Sweden, have been developed and maintained with considerable success.
The Swedish Government owns 95% of the largest and most productive iron mines, which account for almost three-fourths of total iron ore output. Most of Sweden's other mines and mineral processing plants are privately owned. Nonferrous mining and smelting are dominated by the Bollden Mining Company. Nonferrous metal finishing facilities are largely in the hands of the Swedish Metalworking Company (controlled since 1969 by the private mining and steel group, Granges AB), which is the country's sole producer of primary aluminum.
a. Iron, steel, and ferroalloys
Sweden is one of the world's largest producers of iron ore, ranking almost sixth in the world in 1971. Total mine output in 1971 was 33.5 million tines, a 55% increase over the 1960 production level. The Lapland deposits, worked by the government-owned company Luossavaara-Kiirunaavaara AB (LKAB), produced 23,700,000 tons (three-fourths of total output) in 1970, nearly all for export. The Kiruna ore field, which includes the Luossavaara and Svappavaara mines, is the largest in Lapland (Figure 7); the Gallivare ore field (also part of the LKAB complex) is the second-largest. Most ore produced is of direct shipping quality, but small amounts are beneficiated at each mine prior to shipment. The high phosphorous content of Lapland ores makes them unacceptable to the domestic iron and steel industry, and most of ore produced is exported.
Much of the Lapland ore is send to the port of Narvik, Norway, which can handle 17 million tons of ore annually and can accommodate ships up to 70,000 deadweight tons (d.w.t.). By the fall of 1973, LKAB is to complete a US$45 million enlargement project of both the harbor facilities and the rail terminal at Narvik. The Swedish port of Lulea, which handles about 5 million tons of ore annually, has been modernized and has facilities for accommodating ships up to 57,000 d.w.t.
Most of the iron ore used by the domestic iron and steel works is mined in central Sweden. Granges, with an output of 3.7 million tons of ore in 1970, is the largest producer in central Sweden. About the 80% of Granges' output was obtained from the Grangesberg Export Field. The remainder of Granges' output came from the Strassa mine. In Kopparberg province, the prospecting activity of Stora Kopparbergs Berslags AB has led to the additional discovery of two iron ore deposits, each containing an estimated 50 million tons of iron ore.
The iron ore industry is efficient and partly automated. LKAB has 19 kilometers of underground at its Kiruna field and 40 kilometers at Gallivare (Malmberget mine). In 1966, LKAB became the first mining company in the world to use electronic data processing techniques to control haulage in the mine. A computerized system of centralized traffic control regulates all ore train traffic on the main 420-meter level at Kiruna, and the 320-meter level is equipped with a relay-type automatic signaling system. Production at a third level, 540 meters, was scheduled to start in 1970.
Swedish ores have a high iron content (60% to 63% Fe), but they are also high in phosphorus, which has an adverse effect on the export price. Most of the ores produced are of direct-shipping quality, but small amounts are concentrated and/or pelletized prior to shipment; even these are high in phosphorus content. LKAB's mine concentrator in Svappavaara furnishes 1.5 million tons of concentrate annually to the Kiruna pelletizing plant. The 1969 completion of the Allis-Chalmers grate-kiln type pelletizing plant at Svappavaara and the installation of a pelletizing furnace at Malmberget raised LKAB's annual pelletizing capacity to about 4.5 million tons. A US$42 million expansion program at Malmberget, to be finished in 1974, will double LKAB's pelletizing capacity. Another pelletizing plant, with an annual capacity of 500,000 tons, was completed at the
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090018-7
