Details:
Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB) mining company extracts underground iron ore in the Malmberget quarry in Lapland; it is high quality hematite and magnetite (Fe 60-70% in weight) with a total annual production combined with Kiruna of 45 million tons of raw ore. Underground mining is economical and allows a high degree of mechanization and automation, but induces ground deformations on the surface that beyond a certain threshold make it impossible to maintain any infrastructure or residential area in these areas.
LKAB continuously acquires displacement measurements so that it can compensate homeowners, demolish buildings and create park areas between mines and the community in advance before movements become evident on the surface. The underground measurements of the x, y, z movements are carried out continuously by 3 DMS 2D and DMS PLUS continuous columns installed in a container solution for their management in all environmental conditions (the minimum winter temperature reaches -40° C), with extraction and repositioning of the DMS columns as the residential areas are abandoned, optimizing instrumental and management costs.
As part of the development program agreement, the town of Malmberget will be phased out gradually in different phases until 2032, merging into the town of Gällivare, the municipal site, relocating 3.200 people, 2.000 homes, over a total area of 250.000 m².