Slag processing

Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) is a Swedish mining company. The company mines iron ore at Kiruna and at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company was established in 1890, and has been 100% state-owned since the 1950s. In 1918 the company purchased the Francis Flower business in the UK which included the GBSS processing plant at Scunthorpe steelworks.

Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS) is produced by quenching molten iron slag from a blast furnace in water or steam, to produce a glassy, granular product that is then dried and ground into a fine powder. It replaces up to 70% of the Portland Cement in concrete, and can significantly reduce CO2-emissions. Francis Flower produced GGBS in Scunthorpe on the grounds of British Steel upgrading their blast furnace slag. LKAB is also a significant supplier of highly upgraded iron ore products to British Steel, the first deliveries were made in the 1930’s. Francis Flower was the second largest supplier of GGBS in the UK.

The plant in the near background is operated by Calumite Limited which supplies glassmakers in the UK and overseas with Calumite, a refined blast furnace slag. Calumite is a glassy calcium-alumina-silicate that is used as a raw material in all types of soda-lime-silica glassmaking.