Leveäniemigruvan

Leveäniemi Mine


Useful Information

Location: Svappavaara
Open:  
Fee:  
Classification: MineIron Mine
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension: L=1300 m, W=800 m, VR=120 m
Guided tours:  
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography: Karin García Ambrosiani (1991): Interstadial minerogenic sediments at the Leveäniemi mine, Svappavaara, Swedish Lapland, TI: Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar, "GFF" VO: 113 HÄ: 4 SI: 273-287 TA: 2 SP: eng ISSN:0016-786X
C. G. Bjällerud (1989): Phosphate minerals from the Leveäniemi iron Mine, Svappavaara (Sweden), Mineralogical Record, 20 (5), 343.
Jan Lundqvist (1971): The Interglacial deposit at the Leveäniemi Mine, Svappavaara, Swedish Lapland Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning, Ser. C, 658, Arsbok 65 Nr 4.
Address: Leveäniemigruvan, Dennis Holmberg, Tallplan 4K, 98142 Kiruna, Tel: +46-980-19302. E-mail: contact
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1897 deposit discovered.
1964 begin of iron mining.
1969 a strike at Leveäniemi spread to other mines in nearby Kiruna and Mamberget.
1983 mine closed.
2010 LKAB plans to reopen the open cast.
25-SEP-2012 begin of water pumping.
2014 last water pumped out, first test blast.
2015 mining resumed.

Geology

Iron mineralization in the form of magnetite hosted in an iron oxide apatite (Kiruna type) deposit. The ore has a size of 1500 x 600 m and a depth of 550 m. The primary ore is magnetite and actinolite with lesser apatite, iron, phosphorus, and other elements were remobilized and formed a secondary phosphate assemblage. Leveäniemigruvan is well known for its iron phosphate minerals. Very common are strengite, beraunite, rockbridgeite and a number of different zeolites.

Description

Leveäniemigruvan is a working, state owned, open cast iron-ore mine. The tours are offered by Dennis Holmberg. He is mineral collector and guides other mineral collectors to the most promising sites. Before the mine was reopened there was the possibility to enter certain parts, although the open cast was flooded. However, since it was reopened the site is fenced off and there are no official mine tours. Its only possible to visit the slag heaps and see the huge open cast from outside.

The mine was operated from 1964 to 1983, when it was closed due to sinking prices on the world market. The open cast subsequently filled with groundwater and formed a lake. In 2010, when the prices for many metals increased substantially, LKAB planned to reopen the old open pit and two others in the area. More than 30 million cubic meters of water were pumped since 2012 and mining resumed in 2016. At the current rate the reserves will last for about 12 to 15 years.