LARGE-SCALE UNDERGROUND MINING, NEW EQUIPMENT AND A BETTER UNDERGROUND ENVIRONMENT - RESULT OF RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT AT LKAB, SWEDEN

Over the past ten years LKAB has, Like many other large mining compani es, experienced profound changes. Production has increased by nearly 7 0%, the number of employees has fallen by 45% and productivity (in ter ms of tonnes of final product per employee) has increased by a factor of three. The increase is due to concerted and sustained investment in research and development throughout the organization. The efforts tha t are being made underground to establish very large-scale sub-level c aving (with sub-level intervals up to 32 m) are described, along with some other current developments. Brief mention is also made of the KUJ 2000 project, which is nearing completion at Kiruna.