Iron ore mines “Ljubija” a.d. Prijedor were founded with the aim of exploiting ore deposits in the area of the municipalities of Prijedor and Sanski Most. The ore-bearing area covers an area of about 1,200 . The research of the Ljubija metallogenetic area revealed about 347 million tons of geological reserves of iron ores and significant occurrences of mineral raw materials such as: quartz sand, clay, limestone, dolomite, barite, fluorite, zinc and lead.
Industrial production in the Ljubija metallogenetic area began in 1916, and significant progress in the production of iron ore was achieved in the middle of the 20th century with the introduction of mass exploitation and the construction of plants for the preparation of iron ore. Massification of mining production enabled the construction of the Central mining sites, the East mining sites and the Omarska mine, which operated within the framework of the Iron ore mines “Ljubija” as three independent technical-technological units where the surface exploitation and preparation of iron ore took place.
At the “Central mining sites”, iron ore production lasted from 1916. to 1992. 44,643,358 t of iron ore and concentrates were produced. The projected production capacity is 1 million tons of iron ore concentrate per year.
At the “East mining sites” Iron ore production lasted from 1965 to 2004. 20,690,037 t of iron ore were produced. The projected production capacity is 1.2 million tons of iron ore per year. Iron ore production at the “Omarska mine” began in 1986 and lasted until 1992. The mine was revitalized in 2004, exploitation and production of iron ore concentrate was started under the auspices of a new company, ArcelorMittal D.O.O. Prijedor, whose founders are RŽR “Ljubija” a.d. Prijedor (49%) and Mittal company (51%), now ArcelorMittal. ArcelorMittal D.O.O. Prijedor operates with the projected capacity of the “Omarska” Mine of 1.5 million tons of iron ore concentrate per year.
Iron ore mines “Ljubija” a.d. Prijedor has produced around 74 million tons of commodity iron ore during its 85 years of operation.