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Thomas, you have nearly 40 years of experience in infrastructure and logistics, in a career that has taken you around the world—from the USA to Indonesia and Saudi Arabia—before returning to Kiruna to help develop efficient rail transport for ore. What brought you to Viscaria?

I am driven by challenges, and when Viscaria asked whether I could help develop a sustainable and efficient infrastructure and logistics system, I said yes immediately. Being able to apply my knowledge and experience to help design an entirely new system felt like a genuinely exciting challenge. At the two other mines I have worked with, there were already systems in place to build on, but starting with a “blank sheet” was simply too interesting to turn down. At the same time, as a native of Kiruna, I have a sense of local pride and motivation that makes me want to contribute to the growth of the community and help secure a strong future for both current and future residents. If I can make a contribution, I will.

In recent years, Viscaria has worked hard to restart the Viscaria copper mine in Kiruna. Efficient infrastructure is crucial to making the company competitive. What has been your main focus to ensure that logistics and infrastructure are in place?

When working with infrastructure, it is important to recognise that these are projects that often take a long time, require extensive planning, and need to be in place so that other parts of the process can be built upon them—in other words, strong foresight is essential. That is why we have already constructed our own access road with a bridge over the Malmbanan railway, established pilot water treatment, and secured sufficient electrical power to support the construction of all necessary facilities before the permanent energy supply is in place.

To ensure the connection of our planned rail yard to the Malmbanan, as well as access to electrical power, we entered into agreements at an early stage with the Swedish Transport Administration and Vattenfall.

“We have already developed preliminary design proposals for the entire power supply, water and sewage systems, heating, and transport across the site.”

There is a lot of discussion about the Malmbanan railway, which is crucial for transporting iron ore and goods to the shipping ports in Narvik or southwards to Luleå. What is Viscaria’s plan for eventually transporting the thousands of tonnes of copper concentrate and iron ore?

Viscaria will produce 120,000 tonnes of copper concentrate and 450,000 tonnes of iron ore concentrate annually. All of this is intended to be transported by rail, as it is far more sustainable and efficient than road haulage.

In terms of iron ore, it will most likely be transported northwards, as this is logistically the most efficient option, and Narvik is Europe’s largest shipping port for iron ore. For copper concentrate, there are two possible routes: either southwards directly to the smelter in Skelleftehamn, or northwards to Narvik and then onwards by ship to smelters within the EU.

The additional capacity from Viscaria corresponds to one train per day, five days a week, or approximately three per cent of current traffic on the Malmbanan. According to both the Swedish Transport Administration’s analyses and our own, this will not present any issues.

Many smaller mining companies around the world have failed because they underestimated the critical importance of infrastructure and logistics for cost-efficient mining. Will Viscaria be ready?

With our company culture, a strong mix of people and experience, our partners, and a shared sense of commitment and drive, we will make this happen. One advantage we have is that we operate close to three of Sweden’s largest mining companies, which gives us strong benchmarks. In addition, the people and communities in the Malmfälten and the Torne Valley are highly experienced and understand what it takes to support and deliver to an efficient mining industry.