At the Aitik mine north of the Arctic Circle, everything, and just everything is huge. It is the largest open pit in Europe, where some 65 million metric tons of rock is blasted and excavated every year. Mainly copper, but also small amounts of silver and gold are extracted at an adjacent concentration plant.

Mining operations are performed 24x7 and it is a fascinating sight to see the myriad of giant haul trucks, which slowly follow the pit side upwards. Each 140 ton truck is capable of taking up to 220 tons of payload.

A nearby concentration plant processes the ore, where the processed ore is sent by rail to the ore processing plant at Rönnskär. From the 65 million tons of rock some 60,000 tons of copper, 55 tons of silver and 1.5 tons of gold is yielded per year...
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