Swedish iron ore producer LKAB reopened its disrupted railway line to traffic late yesterday at reduced speed and reduced load, a company source said.
The first train has arrived at Narvik port and the mining firm's force majeure on supplies can be lifted soon, the source said. Loading of the vessels will then resume when sufficient products are available.
The derailment on 24 February took place near Vassijaure station, close to the Norwegian border. LKAB and the Swedish Transport Administration, which operates the line, have been investigating the site but the cause of the accident is still unknown. The section of track that requires repair is roughly 1.5km from the station, closer than previously thought.
During the stoppage the iron ore pellets from LKBA's plants have temporally been stored at the sites. Output from the plants will be prioritised on the railway going forwards and excess capacity will be used to reduce the outdoor storage at the sites, the company said. In the longer term, LKAB will work with different scenarios for how the stocks will be phased out.
The Kiruna-Narvik railway is used by LKAB to run 10 fully loaded iron ore trains a day and accounts for two-thirds of all of LKAB's iron ore deliveries.
At the start of March, LKAB reported more than 3mn t of iron ore products in storage, roughly 500 full train loads. LKAB produced 22mn t of iron pellets in 2023.
The Argus 63pc Fe, 3.5pc alumina pellet index was assessed at $121.50/dry metric tonne (dmt) on 5 March, down by $2/dmt from last week. The 63pc Fe, 2pc alumina index was assessed at $129.50/dmt, down by $2.50/dmt from the previous week.
