Kiruna Underground Mine in Sweden – Custom Slurryflex CLX Bends

The LKAB maintenance team were using muff coupling ceramic-lined hose on the bends. But they faced three problems:

1. They were limited to buying only standard sizes, liner thicknesses, and bend angles from a local manufacturer. This meant the maintenance team had to manually measure and cut the bends to fit each time.

2. The hoses weren’t durable enough—only lasting 6-12 weeks.

3. The end connections weren’t suitable. They were limited to muff coupling ends. This was prone to leaks because tile lining is difficult to cut clean and square.

So, they asked our engineering team to take a look.

We suggested they solve the issues by using custom-built ceramic-lined hose bends. This would allow them to increase the tile thickness, custom build the hose angle to fit seamlessly, and include swivel integral flange ends for safer and simpler installation.

Because they were so used to buying off-the-shelf hose, they didn’t realise we could manufacture custom flanges on both ends of the hose—pump end and the hose end—to fit perfectly. That’s because none of our Slurryflex hose is standard—it’s all custom made.

We custom built the mining hose in Australia and shipped it to site for installation.

The Kiruna team are now planning further upgrades based on our engineered design.