In addition Aitik, one of Europe's largest open pit copper mines, is operated just twenty kilometers away by Boliden AB.

Sweden's second-largest fast food chain, Max Hamburgers, was founded in Gällivare, though the headquarters have since relocated to Luleå.

In 1738, the parliament therefore decided that a new church should be established closer to the Kaitum Sámi, with each household in Sweden contributing one öre silver coin.

In 1742, missionaries Pehr Högström and Petrus Holmbom traveled around Kaitum and, together with the Sámi, decided that Easter should be celebrated near Gällivare malmberg.

The winter temperature varies greatly due to the city's location between the open ocean and a large, snow-covered land mass, and can be −30 °C (−22 °F) one day to 0 °C (32 °F) the next.

Gällivare experiences midnight sun for a significant period of summer, though sees some glimpses of daylight even during the winter solstice due to its notable distance from the Arctic Circle.

As a result of prolonged warming from early morning by the midnight sun and Gällivare's inland position, temperatures can occasionally get hot in the summer.