LKAB granted permit for Luleå critical‑minerals industrial park
- Land and Environmental Court granted the environmental permit for LKAB’s Industrial Park in Luleå to process iron‑ore residuals.
- LKAB approved a SEK 800 million Demonstration plant (decision Oct 2024), construction started Jan 2025 and the facility is expected operational later in 2025 to validate the process.
- The plant aims to extract phosphorus (for mineral fertilisers), all 17 rare earth elements, and produce gypsum from apatite concentrate sourced from Gällivare.
- LKAB’s Luleå park, Malmberget mine and Per Geijer deposit have Strategic Project status under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act to reduce Europe’s import dependence.
Environmental permit
The Land and Environmental Court has approved an environmental permit for LKAB’s planned Industrial Park on Svartön, Luleå, authorising processing of iron‑ore residuals to recover phosphorus and rare earth elements.
Demonstration facility
Construction of a Demonstration facility began in January 2025 and is now being completed; it is expected to be operational later in 2025 and will be the first in Europe to test technology to extract phosphorus and all 17 rare earth elements from iron‑ore residual streams, with results forming a basis for any full‑scale investment.
Next steps and regional impact
Further investment decisions will depend on technical, market and permitting outcomes, including a pending environmental ruling for the apatite plant in Gällivare (main hearing concluded; ruling expected in June), and the project is expected to create local industrial activity, new skills and employment in the region.
Source: LKAB