Swedish mining company LKAB has announced that despite a decline towards the end of 2008, production of crude ore in both of its Kiruna and Malmberget iron ore mines in the north of Sweden was at record-breaking levels for the year.
In all, nearly 43 million tonnes of crude ore was produced, 27.5 million tonnes at Kiruna and 15.4 million tonnes at Malmberget were produced, an increase of almost 2 million tonnes over 2007.
Pellet production also rose to record levels following recent investments in new palletizing plants. Production volume reached 19.9 million tonnes, over a million tonnes more than in 2007.
Mr Ola Johnsson president & CEO of LKAB said “Our long term strategy is to increase capacity for pellets and fines products for the steel industry to 30 million tonnes. This demands about 46 million tonnes of crude ore. The mines are a bottleneck in the chain of production and it is essential that we increase our crude ore capacity.”
He added that “LKAB continues its efforts to improve and trim operations, so that we can be ready to deliver high quality products in greater volumes when the economy recovers.”
However the prospects for 2009 are not so rosy. Fremover, the local paper in the port of Narvik, reports that the number of trains arriving filled with ore from Kiruna has fallen from 12 to seven per day.
Mr Johnsson agrees that the market outlook has changed dramatically in the past month: "The situation is difficult to assess, and our customers will be cutting back drastically in the near future. In the short term, we have to adapt. At the same time, our long-term plan of expenditures remains unchanged."
No comments:
Post a Comment