Hilux Sweden Mine

In the town of Kiruna, which is located north of the of pole circle, there are two mountains that contain large amount of iron ore. Underneath one mountain you can find the world's largest underground mine. Breaking ore at 1,365 meters deep and it is possible to drive a car to 1,500 meters deep where new ore mining is prepared.

There is also an open mine for iron ore in the area.

In addition to the large trucks (loads 350 tons) there is a large number of service vehicles that mainly are Hilux.

These Hilux are used in two ways, down in the mine and above ground level.

There is about 1,500 Hilux UIO in the area with a life time of 5-7 years. This long lifetime has made Hilux extremely popular. The Hilux, which are driven down in the mine and out daily (constant slope about 15 degrees), lasts about 50,000-60,000 kilometers during its lifetime.

As the mining area lies north of the polar circle, meaning that the sun does not rise for several weeks in the winter and does not go down in the summer. It is snow from October to May and the average temperature in this month is minus 19 degrees but of course much colder during the night.

These Hilux are driven under extreme conditions, for example, to allow maintenance of the car underbody, the cleaning of the underbody cost 600 euro. This just to remove the large amounts of clay.

For the last 10 years, Toyota has been by far the most popular supplier of pickups to the mining industry in this area. I think this may be one of the most Hilux's dense areas in Europe.

As an attachment you will find some pictures. I think most pictures speak for themselves. One image shows a damaged Hilux. It is a result of that small cars like Hilux are difficult to see from the big mining trucks, and it happen from time to time that mining trucks run over parked Hilux. Another picture shows what Hilux looks likes when the big trucks deliberately drive over end-of-life Hilux so they take less space before being transported for recycling.

As a curiosity you find a picture showing how the entire center of the city is moved for safety reasons. Several old buildings are moved to the new city center 3 km away. Over 5,000 homes are also demolished and replaced with new ones.