Sweden's most southern mine
The zinc mine in Askersund municipality has been in continuous operation since 1857, producing zinc, lead and copper concentrates. Today, the facility includes an underground mine and a concentrator with associated infrastructure. The concentrator has two processing lines, a zinc line with a capacity of approximately 1.5 million tons per year and a copper line that can process both copper ore and zinc-lead ore.
The zinc mine is located in the southern part of Bergslagen at a massive zinc-lead deposit, which extends over more than 5,000 meters and down to a depth of 1,400 meters. The ore bodies are 3-40 meters thick and consist mainly of sphalerite (zinc ore) and galena (lead ore).
The mine has a high degree of automation and mainly uses a combination of longitudinal and transverse long-hole mining. The exhausted rock cavities are backfilled with paste and cement, or waste rock.