MineGuessr – Aitik, Sweden: Large-Scale Copper-Gold Open Pit

Overview & location

Aitik is one of those mines where a 40-year satellite timelapse almost feels like a lecture in modern open-pit mining. What starts as a modest excavation in the late 1960s gradually becomes a four-kilometre-long pit with satellite pits, re-designed waste dumps, expanded tailings, and now even a new open pit at Liikavaara. Today, Aitik is Sweden’s largest open-pit copper mine and one of Europe’s largest and most efficient low-grade, high-tonnage copper operations.

Watching Aitik from space, frame by frame, you literally see the industry’s evolution: larger equipment, higher throughputs, permit-driven pushbacks and a steady shift toward electrification and decarbonisation. This MineGuessr “door” uses that transformation to tell the story behind one of the Nordics’ flagship copper assets.

Where in the world is Aitik?

Aitik sits in Gällivare municipality, Norrbotten County, roughly 60 km north of the Arctic Circle and about 15 km east of Gällivare town in northern Sweden. The operation is an open-pit complex built around:

• The main Aitik pit – the original orebody.
• Salmijärvi – a satellite pit mined between 2010 and 2023 and now depleted.
• Liikavaara – a Palaeoproterozoic Cu-(W-Au) satellite deposit about 3 km east of Aitik, where open-pit production began in 2024 and ore is processed in the Aitik concentrator.

By 2024 the main pit measured roughly 4 km long by 1.1 km wide, with the deepest point about 575 m below surface. Salmijärvi reached approximately 305 m depth with a footprint of around 0.9 × 0.6 km. Together with Liikavaara, these pits form a cluster of long-life porphyry-style copper assets in northern Sweden.

Geology & deposit type

Aitik is a Palaeoproterozoic porphyry Cu–Au–Ag deposit hosted in the Fennoscandian Shield. Copper is the main revenue driver, with gold and silver as significant by-products:

• Historically, copper has provided around 80% of mine revenue, with gold contributing roughly 15% and silver about 5%.
• In more recent reporting, copper still accounts for the majority of revenue, with gold and silver providing important by-product credits that support long-life, low-grade mining.

That low-grade, high-tonnage porphyry signature is exactly what the timelapse highlights: relatively modest grades, but very large volumes and careful long-term life-of-mine planning.

What the mining satellite timelapse shows

The mining satellite timelapse for Aitik covers the period from approximately 1984 to 2022. When viewed as a short video, the satellite imagery of the mine clearly shows the evolution of a large-scale open pit and its associated waste and tailings facilities.

• 1968–1980s – small pit, high head grade
  • Commercial production starts in 1968 at about 2 Mt/yr of ore and a head grade of roughly 0.51% Cu.
  • Through the 1970s and 1980s, throughput grows toward 10–12 Mt/yr at typical head grades around 0.40% Cu, 0.24–0.28 g/t Au and approximately 3.6–3.7 g/t Ag.

  On the satellite view, you’ll see a relatively compact pit, modest dumps, and an early tailings facility.

• 1990s–2000 – maturing 18 Mt/yr operation
  • Continuous expansions take Aitik from 2 Mt/yr up to roughly 18 Mt/yr by the late 1990s, still operating around 0.38–0.42% Cu with similar Au–Ag grades.

  The timelapse shows multiple pushbacks, larger waste dumps and progressive tailings dam raises tracking that expansion.

• 2010 – Aitik 36 and the modern footprint
  • The Aitik 36 expansion is completed around 2010, with a design capacity of 36 Mt/yr and infrastructure to push beyond that level.
  • From 2010 onward, annual ore processing climbs into the high-30s and low-40s Mt/yr range.

  Visually, this is when the pit footprint really stretches to its present scale, roads are re-aligned and new process and waste facilities appear around the complex.

• 2018–2024 – >40 Mt/yr and satellite pits
  • 2018: ~38.4 Mt ore processed at around 0.29% Cu, 0.14 g/t Au and 1.8 g/t Ag.
  • 2020: ~41.6 Mt at around 0.24% Cu, 0.13 g/t Au and 1.1 g/t Ag; total historic ore production since start-up reaches approximately 904 Mt at an average 0.32% Cu, with a similar magnitude of waste stripped.
  • 2022: ~43.3 Mt at around 0.20% Cu, 0.10 g/t Au and 0.9 g/t Ag – a record tonnage.
  • 2023: ~40.7 Mt at around 0.18% Cu, 0.08 g/t Au and 0.8 g/t Ag; Salmijärvi is mined out and Liikavaara is lined up to start.
  • 2024: ~40.8 Mt at around 0.17% Cu, 0.07 g/t Au and 0.7 g/t Ag, with ore now sourced from both the main Aitik pit and the new Liikavaara satellite pit.

  Combining the historical figures with recent output, Aitik has now processed well over one billion tonnes of ore since 1968 – a classic low-grade, high-tonnage porphyry story.

For practitioners, this visual history is a reminder of how decisions made in mine planning, cut-off grade optimisation and production ramp-up translate into land use and surface footprint over decades. On the timelapse, that translates into:

1. The main pit expanding in all directions, with clearly visible pushbacks being mined in recent years.
2. The opening, deepening and eventual depletion of the Salmijärvi satellite pit.
3. Continued tailings dam expansions and reshaped waste dumps associated with higher throughputs and evolving water management plans.

Mining method and processing – how the ore moves

Aitik is a large-scale open-pit truck-shovel operation:

• Benches: typically 15 m high.
• Loading: large rope shovels and hydraulic excavators load ~300 t class haul trucks.
• Crushing: ore from deeper parts of the main pit is tipped into an in-pit crusher; near-surface ore is hauled to a surface crusher on the south-east side of the pit.
• Waste: potentially acid-forming waste is segregated and placed in dedicated dumps; non-acid-forming waste is dumped separately.

The concentrator treats ore at roughly 40+ Mt/yr scale, producing a copper concentrate with payable gold and silver. Concentrate is railed about 350 km south to the Rönnskär smelter at Skelleftehamn, linking Aitik directly into European copper and precious-metal supply chains.

Role in the raw materials value chain and energy transition

Aitik contributes to the wider raw materials value chain by supplying copper that is essential to modern infrastructure and the energy transition. Copper from Aitik ends up in:

• Power grids, transformers and substations for electricity transmission and distribution.
• Electric vehicles, chargers and associated wiring.
• Renewable energy systems such as wind turbines and solar installations.
• Building wiring, electronics and industrial equipment across multiple sectors.

Understanding how sites like Aitik develop over time helps frame discussions around secure supply, ESG performance and long-term planning for energy transition raw materials.

Decarbonisation and electrification – another dimension to the timelapse

Beyond the pit geometry, Aitik is interesting for MineGuessr because it is one of the early large-scale test beds for more climate-smart open-pit haulage:

• Boliden has invested heavily in electrified trolley haulage at Aitik, installing trolley lines on key uphill ramps to cut diesel use and greenhouse-gas emissions from truck haulage.
• A 700 m trolley lane at Aitik is estimated to save around 830 m³ of diesel per year on that segment alone and, together with other lines, is part of a system expected to reduce mine-site diesel consumption by several thousand cubic metres per year and lower transport emissions by roughly 15% over the mine’s life.
• In collaboration with equipment suppliers such as Komatsu, Aitik is now also involved in field trials of next-generation diesel-trolley trucks and autonomous haulage solutions, creating a pathway toward lower-carbon and eventually zero-emission surface mining.

In other words, Aitik is a practical example of how a legacy open pit is being retro-fitted for a lower-carbon future while still operating at high tonnage.

What to look for in the MineGuessr timelapse

As a MineGuessr player, we would like to guide your eye to:

• The transition from a compact pit to a 4 km long open pit with multiple pushbacks and redesigned haul roads.
• The appearance and later depletion of the Salmijärvi satellite pit as a separate open-pit footprint.
• Progressive tailings facility expansion and the re-shaping of waste dumps to segregate potentially acid-forming rock and optimise land use.
• The later-stage development of Liikavaara, visible as a new open pit east of the original mine and associated infrastructure build-out.

MineGuessr perspective – why this mine was included

We selected Aitik for the MineGuessr mining advent calendar because it:

• Has a distinctive footprint in satellite imagery and is instantly recognisable as a very large open-pit copper mine in Arctic conditions.
• Shows a clear life-of-mine evolution in the mining satellite timelapse, from a small pit to a large multi-pushback operation with satellite pits and expanded tailings.
• Is representative of modern, low-grade, high-tonnage porphyry copper mining and of the technical and ESG challenges facing Nordic open-pit operations in the energy transition.

In our GeoGuessr-style mine guessing game, Aitik helps spark conversation about large-scale open-pit design, cut-off strategy, electrified haulage and the realities of supplying copper to a decarbonising world.

You can explore all 24 mines featured this year on the main MineGuessr mining advent calendar page and continue opening a new door every day in December.

• Day 2 - Björkdal (Sweden, gold)
  Gold mine near Skellefteå, combining open-pit and underground mining.
  👉 Open Door 2 - Björkdal
• Day 3 - Kemi (Finland, chrome)
  Chrome mine in northern Finland, Europe’s only chromite operation.
  👉 Open Door 3 - Kemi
• Day 4 - Ørtfjell (Norway, iron ore)
  Iron ore mine in Norway’s Dunderland Valley, evolving from large open pits to underground mining.
  👉 Open Door 4 - Ørtfjell
• Day 5 - Trimouns (France, talc)
  World’s largest working talc quarry high in the French Pyrenees above Luzenac.
  👉 Open Door 5 - Trimouns
• Day 6 - Skouries (Greece, copper-gold porphyry)
  High-grade copper–gold porphyry project in the forests of Halkidiki, still under construction.
  👉 Open Door 6 - Skouries
• Day 7 - Las Cruces (Spain, copper)
  High-grade hydromet copper mine in the Iberian Pyrite Belt north-west of Seville.
  👉 Open Door 7 - Las Cruces
• Day 8 - Assarel–Medet (Bulgaria, copper)
  Twin porphyry copper open pits in the Panagyurishte district, from Europe’s former largest open-pit copper mine at Medet to today’s modern Assarel operation.
  👉 Open Door 8 - Assarel–Medet
• Day 9 - Glomel (France, andalusite)
  World-class andalusite open-pit quarry in Brittany’s Montagnes Noires, supplying refractory minerals for Europe’s steel, foundry, cement and glass industries.
  👉 Open Door 9 - Glomel
• Day 10 - Parnassos–Ghiona (Greece, bauxite)
  Karst-type bauxite mines in the Parnassos–Ghiona mountains, a historic alumina feedstock district supplying Greece’s aluminium industry.
  👉 Open Door 10 - Parnassos–Ghiona
• Day 11 - Kittilä (Finland, gold)
  Europe’s largest primary gold mine at the Suurikuusikko orogenic gold deposit north of the Arctic Circle.
  👉 Open Door 11 - Kittilä
• Day 12 - Oltenia Energy Complex (Romania, lignite)
  Cluster of large open-pit lignite mines and mine-mouth power plants in Gorj County, now at the centre of Romania’s coal phase-out and just transition plans.
  👉 Open Door 12 - Oltenia Energy Complex
• Day 13 - Cornwall china clay (UK)
  Historic Imerys china clay pits near St Austell, where bright white kaolin benches and tips reshape “Clay Country” over decades of mining and restoration.
  👉 Open Door 13 - Cornwall china clay
• Day 14 - Aggeria–Agia Irini (Greece, bentonite)
  Overlapping bentonite open pits on the volcanic island of Milos, anchoring one of Europe’s key industrial minerals districts.
  👉 Open Door 14 - Aggeria–Agia Irini
• Day 15 - Skouriotissa (Cyprus, copper & hydromet)
  Ancient copper mining district in the Troodos ophiolite, now a hydrometallurgical hub processing copper, gold and battery-metal feed.
  👉 Open Door 15 - Skouriotissa
• Day 16 - Tunstead (UK, limestone & cement)
  The UK’s largest limestone quarry near Buxton, feeding an integrated lime and cement works with long-term restoration and biodiversity plans.
  👉 Open Door 16 - Tunstead
• Day 17 - Narva (Estonia, oil shale)
  Large open-pit oil shale mine in Ida-Viru County, supplying the Narva power plants and reshaping the landscape with strip mining and reclamation.
  👉 Open Door 17 - Narva
• Day 18 - Sydvaranger (Norway, iron ore)
  Arctic banded iron formation at Bjørnevatn near Kirkenes, evolving toward DR-grade magnetite for Europe’s green steel transition.
  👉 Open Door 18 - Sydvaranger
• Day 19 - Kevitsa (Finland, nickel–copper–PGE)
  Multimetal open-pit mine in Finnish Lapland, combining Ni–Cu–PGE production with trolley-assisted haulage for lower-emission mining.
  👉 Open Door 19 - Kevitsa
• Day 20 - Styrian Erzberg (Austria, iron ore)
  Terraced “pyramid” open-pit iron ore mine at Eisenerz, turning 12 Mt of rock into ~3 Mt of ore each year for Austria’s steel industry.
  👉 Open Door 20 - Styrian Erzberg
• Day 21 - Minas de Alquife (Spain, iron ore)
  Europe’s largest open-pit iron ore mine in Granada, restarting in 2020 after two decades of closure to supply high-grade ore to European steelmakers.
  👉 Open Door 21 - Minas de Alquife
• Day 22 - Siilinjärvi (Finland, phosphate)
  EU’s only operating phosphate mine in central Finland, mining an Archean carbonatite for fertiliser-grade apatite and creating distinctive pale tailings and phosphogypsum stacks.
  👉 Open Door 22 - Siilinjärvi
• Day 23 - Tellnes (Norway, ilmenite/titanium)
  World-class ilmenite open pit in the Rogaland Anorthosite Province, supplying TiO₂ pigment feedstock from one of Europe’s largest titanium deposits.
  👉 Open Door 23 - Tellnes
• Day 24 - Elatsite (Bulgaria, copper–gold porphyry)
  High-altitude porphyry copper–gold open pit in Bulgaria’s Srednogorie zone, with ore conveyed under the Balkan Mountains to a separate flotation–tailings complex.
  👉 Open Door 24 - Elatsite

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About Gosselin Mining

At Gosselin Mining, we specialise in exactly the kind of long-life, low-grade operations that Aitik represents: large-scale truck-shovel open pits, complex life-of-mine planning, and ESG-driven transformations such as electrified haulage and new tailings concepts. If you’d like to discuss cut-off strategies, pushback design, decarbonisation pathways or benchmark your operation for your own low-grade and high-tonnage mineral project asset, you’re very welcome to get in touch.

Further Reading and References

1. Boliden (online) Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. Available at https://www.boliden.com/operations/exploration/mineral-reserves-and-mineral-resources/ (Accessed on 1 December 2025)