Second autonomous Epiroc ST18 Scooptram arrives at LKAB Kiruna

LKAB continues to grow and develop its autonomous fleet at the Kiruna underground iron ore mine. A second Epiroc autonomous Scooptram 18 t ST18 has now arrived which will be put through its paces with a series of tests including manual loading; autonomous loading , with one loader in the production area at a time, then autonomous loading with both ST18 machines No 1 and 2 together in the same production area. LKAB will perform these tests with Certiq, Epiroc’s telematics solution that gathers, compares and communicates vital equipment information.

In Kiruna, mining takes place in an underground mine with a current main haulage level 1,365 m below ground. The ore is processed above ground in three concentrating and pelletising plants. LKAB says that new technological solutions leveraging automation and digitalisation are needed as mining proceeds to ever greater depths at Kiruna. In addition to the two Epiroc machines the miner is operating three Sandvik 21 t LH621i loaders at the mine. LKAB says it is already able to boost production in one area from around 3,000 t to 5,000 t, by being able to run more machines.