Tag Archives: Sweden

Sika boosts shotcrete offering for mining industry

Mining consumables, Mining safety, Mining services, , , , ,

Sika says it has further expanded additive production for shotcrete at Spånga, near Stockholm, Sweden, and upscaled to the latest-generation technology.

The new process makes it possible to deliver tailored solutions in demanding projects for customers, with the primary customer of the set accelerator, marketed under the Sigunit® brand, being the mining industry. Sika says a high level of early strength development and maximum safety in shotcrete applications is key for the mining sector.

Ivo Schädler, Regional Manager EMEA, said: “The new technology allows us to offer reliable shotcrete solutions that are tailored to customer requirements in the best possible way. Our customers include leading mining companies that sign long-term supply agreements with us. The potential for growth is not limited to Sweden alone, with mining projects in Finland and tunnel construction projects in Norway and Iceland.”

ABB ready to demonstrate electrical and automation advances at SUM project

Automation, Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , ,

ABB electrification and automation knowledge and solutions are being employed at LKAB’s Sustainable Underground Mining (SUM) project, as the project partners strive towards demonstrating the possibility of developing a mine with zero carbon dioxide emissions and relative productivity increases of 50%.

The company has provided electrification, connected control and operations management systems, high-visualisation and mobile operator workplaces as part of this project, which also involves Combitech, Epiroc and Sandvik. It is now looking to connect electrical and automation systems that have so far been developed and leverage these in a demonstration workshop as part of the project’s next phase.

Devised by LKAB, the SUM project has the goal of setting a new world standard for sustainable mining at great depths. The framework outlines ambitions for zero carbon dioxide emissions, completely safe mines for humans, productivity increases of 50% and deeper mining.

ABB will continue to contribute its deep knowledge in electrification, automation and workplaces together with other suppliers to the mining industry, it said.

Test work in LKAB’s Kiruna mine, northern Sweden, as well as a virtual test mine will study the best way to build a carbon dioxide free and autonomous production system.

“Within the mine, the Konsuln orebody is used to demonstrate future workplaces in a decentralised environment with efficient use of an autonomous electrical mobile transport system in a mixed environment,” ABB said. “Real-time process information is available to all organisations involved. When combined with the wider efforts of the SUM partnership, this shows a way of bringing completely new technology solutions to market for safer, more sustainable and more efficient mining production processes.”

Jan Nyqvist, Global Product Manager for Underground Mining Automation at ABB, and one of the leaders in the project, said: “We are taking significant strides towards a vision of the future operator environment through smarter working and demonstrable results. Electrification and automation are two important factors for the mining industry to continue its rapid, but effective, modernisation. Sharing of information and data is crucial to reach substantial end goals.”

He added: “It is becoming increasingly common for suppliers to create dedicated collaboration groups to reach the best possible solutions for their customers. Collective successes and progress and the meeting of key targets for SUM, are initial evidence of the mutual benefits of collaboration.”

ABB has a relatively large team committing time to the project, with experts in digitalisation and research, as well as electrification and automation.

“ABB is integral to the next step, which is to build a demonstration workshop to connect electrical and automation systems that have so far been developed for this challenging project,” Nyqvist said. “We will, through various developed scenarios, be able to show how the systems work together.”

By 2022, the ABB electrification and automation solutions will be fully installed, and the aim is that a new standard for mining production will be displayed at the project by 2030.

LKAB leveraging Sandvik, Epiroc autonomous loading solutions at Kiruna

Automation, Explosives and blasting, IoT, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , ,

Autonomous operations are stepping up at LKAB’s Kiruna asset, in northern Sweden, with the underground iron ore mine adding another two autonomous loaders to its fleet this month.

The company says new technological solutions leveraging automation and digitalisation are needed as mining proceeds to ever greater depths at Kiruna.

“We are already operating three automated loaders, and, in December, we will scale up to five units,” Mikael Winsa, Production Manager at Kiruna, said.

LKAB is well acquainted with automated and remote loading, having started using this technology all the way back in 2000.

Magnus Lindgren, Production Manager for Remote Operations, says: “The infrastructure is much better today and there are better conditions for doing it really well. All of the components to make this work, for example, the network, are now more mature and stable.” Lindgren has been with LKAB since 1994 and worked with the first driverless loaders when they were introduced.

Today three 21 t Sandvik LH621i loaders are operated from a control room at level 1365 in the mine. Sandvik also provides the software that makes it possible to control the machines at some distance from the production area.

Winsa added: “The traffic system has revolutionised automated loading. It allows us to run several machines at the same time, in the same area, and back and forth to the same destination. This is a great leap forward in terms of technology and development.”

The automation system, Sandvik’s AutoMine® Multi-Lite, enables greater flexibility by creating better prerequisites for increasing production, LKAB says.

“We can boost production in one area from around 3,000 t to 5,000 t, since we can run more machines, even at night time,” Winsa says.

This mean significantly more buckets of ore can be hauled over a 24-hour period; something not possible after blasting with conventional loaders, since personnel cannot be exposed to blasting gases.

Lindgren says: “In some ways, this is a completely new approach to loading and production. It is very exciting to take part in this journey and contribute to a solution for mining at greater depth.”

Lindgren said the company is also in the initial phase of launching Epiroc’s remote loading system: “The system is now being fine-tuned and we plan to commission the traffic system early in the new year.”

The automated loaders navigate through the drifts safely and efficiently, according to LKAB. Cameras are installed at the front and back of the machine, which means the operator can follow the loading progression in real time. In addition, one operator can run several machines simultaneously.

“We are able to increase both availability and production by operating more automated loaders,” Lindgren said. “But this doesn’t mean that the manually-operated machines have outlived their usefulness. It just means that we have more tools in our toolbox.”

And the flexibility this enables is the key to mining the Kiruna orebody at greater depth, not least after the seismic event that occurred on May 18, which affected several of the production areas. This has meant fewer areas must produce more ore. In that context, automated loaders are a necessity.

Winsa concluded: “We are always taking small steps forward. It feels like we’ve crossed a threshold and can see many new possibilities leading into the future.”

ABB to help deliver Talga’s vertically integrated lithium-ion battery anode plan

Automation, Energy minerals, Environmental, Mineral project development, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , ,

Talga Group says it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with ABB to support the development and construction of its Vittangi Anode project, in northern Sweden.

Talga is constructing a scalable battery anode production facility and integrated graphite mining operation in northern Sweden, using 100% renewable electricity to supply ultra-low emission coated anode for, it says, greener lithium-ion batteries. The anode refinery is expected to commence production in 2023.

Under the MoU, ABB will use its industrial automation and electrification expertise to develop and co-ordinate an extensive suite of production control and process solutions for Talga’s vertically integrated lithium-ion battery anode operations.

In addition, ABB will work together with Talga and its partners to provide engineering support for the Vittangi Anode project definitive feasibility study, due for completion March 2021, with the intent to execute binding agreements for construction and operations in future.

Talga, Mitsui and LKAB recently signed a Letter of Intent that could see the three jointly develop the project.

Talga Managing Director, Mark Thompson, said: “ABB is at the forefront of industrial automation and electrification, and we are very pleased to have their support as we continue to execute on our plan to build Europe’s largest Li-ion battery anode production facility for more sustainable batteries.”

Björn Jonsson, Hub Division Manager North Europe, Process Industries, ABB, said: “Supporting the development of Talga’s Vittangi Anode project provides us with an additional opportunity to showcase ABB’s leadership in industrial automation and smart electrification, applied towards construction of key operations for the emerging European battery supply chain.

“This is another milestone for us and our customers in our aim for more sustainable operations and a fossil fuel free society.”

LKAB plots carbon-free pathway with direct reduced iron switch

Automation, Energy minerals, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining industry recognition, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

LKAB has presented its new strategy for the future, setting out a path to achieve net-zero carbon emissions from its own processes and products by 2045, while securing the company’s operations with expanded mining beyond 2060.

Jan Moström, President and CEO of LKAB, said the plan represented the biggest transformation in the company’s 130-year history, and could end up being the largest industrial investment ever made in Sweden.

“It creates unique opportunities to reduce the world’s carbon emissions and for Swedish industry to take the lead in a necessary global transformation,” he said.

The strategy sets out three main tracks for the transformation:

  • New world standard for mining;
  • Sponge iron (direct reduced iron) produced using green hydrogen will in time replace iron ore pellets, opening the way for a fossil-free iron and steel industry; and
  • Extract critical minerals from mine waste: using fossil-free technology to extract strategically important earth elements and phosphorous for mineral fertiliser from today’s mine waste.

The transformation is expected to require extensive investments in the order of SEK10-20 billion ($1.2-2.3 billion) a year over a period of around 15 to 20 years within LKAB’s operations alone. The company said the new strategy was a response to market developments in the global iron and steel industry, “which is undergoing a technology shift”.

The move could cut annual carbon dioxide emissions from the company’s customers worldwide by 35 Mt, equivalent to two thirds of Sweden’s domestic greenhouse gas emissions, it said.

Developments under the HYBRIT project, in which SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall are collaborating on a process to enable the reduction of steel from iron ore using hydrogen instead of carbon, will be keenly observed following the miner’s announcement.

On top of this collaboration, LKAB is working with Sandvik, ABB, Combitec, Epiroc and several other industry leaders to develop the technology that will enable the transition to fossil-free, autonomous mines, it said.

Moström added: “The market for iron and steel will grow and, at the same time, the global economy is shifting towards a carbon-free future. Our carbon-free products will play an important part in the production of railways, wind farms, electric vehicles and industrial machinery.

“We will go from being part of the problem to being an important part of the solution.”

The market for steel is forecasted to grow by 50% by 2050. This growth will be achieved by an increase in the upgrading of recycled scrap in electric arc furnaces, according to LKAB. Today, the iron and steel industry accounts for more than a quarter of industrial emissions and for 7% of the world’s total carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to an IEA report.

The company said: “The global market price for recycled scrap is now twice that of iron ore pellets. The carbon-free sponge iron that will in time replace iron ore pellets as LKAB’s main export product is suitable for arc furnaces, allowing the company to offer industries throughout the world access to carbon-free iron.”

Moström said the switch from iron ore pellets to carbon-free sponge iron was an important step forward in the value chain, increasing the value of its products at the same time as giving customers direct access to “carbon-free iron”.

“That’s good for the climate and good for our business,” he said. “This transformation will provide us with good opportunities to more than double our turnover by 2045.”

During the transformation period, LKAB will supply iron ore pellets in parallel with developing carbon-free sponge iron.

To reach the new strategy’s goals, rapid solutions must be found for various complex issues, according to the company. These include permits, energy requirements and better conditions for research, development and innovation within primary industry.

Moström said: “Our transformation will dramatically improve Europe’s ability to achieve its climate goals. By reducing emissions primarily from our export business, we will achieve a reduction in global emissions that is equivalent to two-thirds of all Sweden’s carbon emissions. That’s three times greater than the effect of abandoning all cars in Sweden for good.

“It’s the biggest thing we in Sweden can do for the climate.”

Göran Persson, Chairman of the Board of LKAB, said: “What Swedish industry is now doing, spearheaded by LKAB, is to respond to the threatening climate crisis with innovation and technological change. In doing so, we are helping to secure a future for coming generations. This will also create new jobs in the county of Norrbotten, which will become a hub in a green industrial transformation. Succeeding in this will create ripples for generations to come. Not just here, but far beyond our borders.

“Now we are doing, what everyone says must be done.”

Eurobattery Minerals and Uppsala University to continue battery minerals extraction work

Energy minerals, Mineral exploration, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , ,

Eurobattery Minerals AB, a mining and exploration company with a vision to help Europe become self-sufficient in ethically-sourced battery minerals, has announced an extension of its ongoing collaboration with Uppsala University, in Sweden.

The company has supported the university in its application to the Swedish innovation agency, Vinnova, for a project that focuses on new and modern methods of extracting rare earth elements (REE) from the shales in Fetsjön and other apatite-rich discoveries in Sweden.

As part of this project, Eurobattery Minerals will provide both mineralised samples from Fetsjön, as well as financial funding, it said. Vinnova is expected to announce its decision at the beginning of spring 2021.

Scientists from the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University have figured out an efficient way of extracting REE from phosphates typically located in black shales, such as in Fetsjön, according to Eurobattery Minerals. The next step is to create a small experimental plant and run university-led REE beneficiation experiments on a larger scale.

“We are thrilled to continue to support the scientists at Uppsala University,” Roberto García Martínez, CEO of Eurobattery Minerals, said. “In Fetsjön, we know from previous comprehensive drilling and analyses that the REE level in the black shales is high. As critical components to the electric revolution, we are interested in finding efficient and sustainable methods to obtain those minerals from our projects.”

The project is headed by Dr Jaroslaw Majka, Associate Professor in Metamorphic Petrology at the Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University.

Dr Majka said: “We are excited about the possibility to conduct larger-scale testing of this new industrialised method for extracting rare earth elements. We believe that it will enable more efficient and sustainable extraction of these key components in electric vehicles and other battery-run equipment.”

LKAB warms to Sandvik’s ‘renewed’ LH625iE as second electric LHD heads to Kiruna

Automation, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Having been on a journey to electrify its operations with Sandvik since the mid-1980s, LKAB says the latest addition to its electric fleet, a Sandvik LH625iE, is performing well at its flagship Kiruna iron ore mine in northern Sweden.

The company took delivery of the “renewed” Sandvik LH625iE electric loader for field testing earlier this year and, according to Per Brännman, Section Manager for sublevel caving at LKAB in Kiruna, the machine’s performance has picked up recently after some adjustments, mainly to the cable reeling system.

“It has completed 350 hours without any error codes or stops, and loaded over 140,000 t of crude iron ore,” he said.

The machine in question is operating down on block 15, level 1022, at the iron ore mine, and the company is expecting to put another LH625iE into action on this level in early November.

“The future looks bright and carbon dioxide free,” Brännman said.

The underground loader, which features a 9.5 cu.m bucket and 25,000 kg payload capacity, is designed specifically to operate in the world’s largest underground iron ore mine. It comes with a total length of 14 m, bucket width of 4 m and cabin height of 3 m.

The basic LH625iE design is well-proven (and based on the LH625E), according to Sandvik, with the equipment manufacturer delivering electric loaders powered by a trailing cable for more than 35 years.

In addition to using the proven design and robust structures, Sandvik says its LH625iE belongs to its i-series, featuring advanced technology, the latest digital solutions and smart connectivity. This sees the new Sandvik LH625iE equipped with Sandvik Intelligent Control System and My Sandvik Digital Services Knowledge Box™ as standard. To use the payload capacity it offers, the loader can also be fitted with Sandvik’s Integrated Weighing System, as well as AutoMine® and OptiMine® solutions, Sandvik said.

LKAB uses drones to inspect Kiruna workings after tremor

IoT, Mine surveying, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software, Steel and iron ore, , , , , ,

LKAB says it is using drones equipped with scanners to survey much of the area recently affected by seismic activity at its Kiruna iron ore mine in Sweden.

On May 18, a major tremor measuring 3.3 magnitude caused extensive and widespread damage to the mine. Since then, the company has been trying to secure the mine with rock technicians surveying the workings.

Per Brännman, Section Manager for sublevel caving at LKAB in Kiruna, said the use of drones and scanners for surveying was a safe and efficient way to work.

“No one carrying out inspection work will be exposed to any kind of risk,” he said.

Principally, the inspection involves surveying the damage to obtain a solid reliable data for decision-making with respect to, for example, rock reinforcement, LKAB says.

“The drone is a good tool, but the scanner is truly revolutionary. The drone is actually only the vehicle that carries the equipment,” Brännman said.

For this particular task, the company looked to Sweden-based AMKVO AB – which specialises in geodata and remote sensing – and its UAVs.

LKAB said, in terms of safety and technology, use of drones and scanners represent a major step forward. It is also a very effective means of investigating difficult-to-access areas, ore passes and areas affected by rock bursts.

“For example, we have been able to look at one of our loaders, which sits in an area that cannot yet be accessed physically,” added Brännman.

Drones and scanners can be made ready for deployment in barely 15 minutes. The technology is very precise, functioning well without detailed instructions from the pilot, according to LKAB.

Mirjana Boskovic, Seismology Specialist at LKAB in Kiruna, explained: “It works much the same way a bat navigates. The scanner helps us to form a wide picture of the area that is very useful in our work.”

Using sound waves, the drone finds its way around using “echolocation”. And, like a bat, a drone equipped with a scanner can navigate in its surroundings while avoiding obstacles with precision, LKAB said. This means that a scanner-equipped drone can fly into very confined, difficult-to-access damaged areas, which personnel cannot enter.

“There are many advantages with this type of technology, particularly in terms of safety,” Boskovic said. “When we inspect an area, we have to consider seismicity, the condition of rock and safety in an area. That’s the first step of our work. With this technology, we don’t even have to enter an area.”

Film sequences from the affected areas can be stored and used over the long term to discover changes in, for example, structures. The sequences can also be successively compiled to form a single, large model of the mine.

Boskovic added: “The rock bursts that we have discovered with the help of drones are to be expected after this type of event.”

Material from the drone flights is already being analysed, which means that the damage survey can be carried out more efficiently, safer and faster than before.

In just over a week since being deployed, much of the mine, from the Y15 to Y31 blocks, has been scanned, according to LKAB. The inspection area covers about 1.5 km and includes several levels and production blocks.

However, the company has not been possible to inspect block 22, the part of the mine that was the epicentre of the event.

Brännman said: “At this point, everything that we have been able to scan has been covered and, looking forward, we will be able to start scanning the ore passes.”

This means, in all, some 13 km of ore passes will be investigated in detail this summer.

“We have seen fantastic commitment and willingness to help on the part of so many people,” Brännman said. “About 15 people have been involved in conducting the flights and measurements.”

The scanner is here to stay and will be used for a range of purposes in the future, according to LKAB.

“This is a major step forward for safety in conjunction with inspection of affected areas of the mine,” it added.

Visualising the future of particle measurements with 3DPM

Automation, Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 3DPM vision system has had quite a journey. Since the first prototype was installed at LKAB’s Malmberget iron ore to help the miner optimise its pellet production, the system has helped ‘settle the argument’ between mine and mill at base metal mines in Europe and improve the quality of coke being fed to blast furnaces in Japan.

The future looks bright too, with the potential for the system to play a major role in the automation of mine process plants.

Users of 3DPM have seen the importance of having a high-quality vision system that can measure material from a few millimetres to as big as 300 mm in size at relatively high speeds on conveyor belts.

Matthew Thurley, Principal Scientist at Innovative Machine Vision and one of the inventors of the system, has seen the system evolve at the same time as the industry’s understanding of orebody characterisation has grown.

Sweden-based MBV Systems was involved from the beginning on the system, working in partnership with Thurley during his time at Lulea University. It was a three-way collaboration between the university, the SME, and mining companies that got the product to market.

3DPM stands for three-dimensional particle measurement. The system consists of high-performance hardware for 3D scanning of particles and state-of-the-art software for analysis of the size and distribution of particles on a conveyor belt.

“Each system is optimised regarding the hardware and software to best fit each individual installation site and customer preference,” MBV Systems said. “A few examples include OPC communication, heating options to allow functionality in freezing environments, bulk volume calculation, rock bolt detection, and alarm triggering on oversize material.”

Back in 2006, the system installed at Malmberget was very different.

Thurley said the physical hardware, mounted above a conveyor, was pieced together to function properly, but required integration of many individual parts which was hard to maintain.

Still, it provided the iron ore miner with a detailed particle size distribution down to mm-size classes of its high-grade iron ore pellets.

And, in the 14 years since first installation, the principle of the system has remained: to provide increased knowledge of particle size distribution to generate value in, for instance, crusher/mill control, blast furnace effectiveness, process optimisation, or process knowledge.

As more companies have become familiar with the system, the advanced features such as algorithms to detect fines and partially embedded particles have come to the fore. The hardware has been reinforced for rough environments with IP65 rating and the need for very low maintenance even when running 24/7.

This has meant the system has potential in projects focused on improved quality control, automation and process control; three topics the industry is looking at to improve its bottom line, increase its revenues and remove people from operations.

MBV Systems said: “Our customers, who are already highly automated, must continually make their operations more efficient and reduce costs in increasingly tougher international competition. MBV Systems’ machine vision systems constitute a decisive factor for higher productivity, improved efficiency and for complete quality control.”

LKAB started using the system more than 10 years ago. Over that timeframe, the system won many admirers.

Boliden is a big fan of 3DPM, with installations at its Garpenberg, Aitik and Tara operations.

Earlier this year, the miner decided to install another 3DPM system at Garpenberg, four years after the first system was delivered to the Aitik mine to help boost process knowledge and control strategies for crushers and grinding mills.

The way the Sweden-based miner has applied this technology makes for a great case study, according to Thurley.

At Tara, the system is being used for increased process knowledge – “settling the argument between mine and mill”, Thurley says – while, at Garpenberg, the vision system is being leveraged to detect boulders and rock bolts online in a safe way.

This shows 3DPM can be used for multiple purposes.

Such flexibility is down to the system’s ability to provide full size distribution measurements from 0-300 mm and the use of newer algorithms, with the accuracy dependent on the speed of the conveyor belt and the target size of the material under scrutiny.

One of the differentiating factors of 3DPM compared with other vision systems – many of which are now used within ore sorting projects – is the ability to provide a good 3D data profile of the surface of the rock mass. This helps distinguish between rocks and fines, for instance, even when the two are interwoven.

“With the system, we can classify fines and embedded rocks,” Thurley explained. “In other systems, fines may be mistaken for large ‘rocks’ and significantly skew the measured size distribution resulting in bad data and bad decision making.”

This is particularly important in operations that produce several products within one mine – for instance iron ore lump and fines – ensuring that the correct product ends up in the correct stockpile.

The vision system can be tailored to each application.

“At a pigment producer, for instance, we are looking for material that is 3 mm in size,” Thurley said. “In order to carry out that sort of classification, we use the latest technology to measure 3D points at 0.3 mm resolution.”

Typically, visualisation down to this size of material is not required in mining operations, where the company is really competing with batch ‘mine-to-mill’ ore characterisation studies carried out through sieving or some type of other manual process. Such classification can work well for that ‘sample’ but can be misrepresentative depending on the orebody’s heterogeneity.

“3DPM can, instead, provide an end-to-end analysis that can now start to be used as a decision-making tool,” Thurley said.

Analysis of the ore coming through just after blasting can help provide the reconciliation tool miners require to check how effective the blasting practice is, for instance, helping provide the “pre-crusher size distribution feedback much earlier in the value chain”, he said.

With the incorporation of new software and camera technology, the company is expecting more complex analysis to be carried out on bigger amounts of material, according to Thurley.

“These new technologies will allow us to analyse material on a conveyor belt going at 6 m/s where the previous generation was limited at around 2 m/s,” he said.

This could open opportunities at much bigger operations – some large copper or iron ore mines, for instance – as well as automated plants of the future.

It is not farfetched to see the system operating in the same blasting reconciliation position but providing crusher operators with the analysis required to optimise operations ahead of receiving the material.

Moving one step further, it could provide the same information to a system that operates autonomously.

“This could eventually lead to automatic control of the crusher,” Thurley said.

Epiroc slims Sweden workforce following COVID-19 related demand drop

Automation, IoT, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Epiroc has provided a notice of termination to 425 employees in Sweden as it looks to adapt to the changing COVID-19 demand situation in the mining and infrastructure sectors.

The move is in response to lower global demand from these sectors amid the pandemic, and to position the company better for the future, it said.

Some 350 positions are expected to go at the company’s Örebro facilities, with 75 positions being removed in Fagersta, Sweden, of which half are positions in production, the company said.

Örebro is a main manufacturing and research and development hub for Epiroc’s underground and surface equipment as well as for service and spare parts supply, while Fagersta is home to Epiroc’s rock drilling tools business. Epiroc has about 3,100 employees in Sweden, out of a global workforce of some 14,000.

Epiroc said: “The action is the result of Epiroc facing a significant drop in demand from customers due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on the global economy. The work reductions are also part of Epiroc’s continuous effort to become as agile and efficient as possible and follows various efficiency measures taken worldwide since 2019.”

The company, in April, announced it would consolidate the manufacturing of exploration drilling tools in Canada, gradually moving its base from North Bay to Montreal and Sweden over the course of 2020, with around 65 employees in North Bay, Ontario, being affected.

Helena Hedblom, Epiroc’s President and CEO, said: “We are taking these actions to adapt to the new market situation following the COVID-19 pandemic and to make us stronger and more resilient for the future. Unfortunately, we must take such a drastic action as giving notice of termination. We regret the negative consequences this will have for our colleagues and those close to them, and we will support our employees in this difficult situation.

“These actions will allow us to continue to prioritise innovation and to develop our technology leadership in order to support our customers’ operations and improve their productivity.”

Epiroc’s innovation investments have led to the mining and infrastructure industries becoming more productive, safe and climate friendly, according to the company, following the adoption of its automation, digitalisation and electrification solutions.