Metso invests $7.5 million in Arequipa, Peru

Metso, the global supplier of technology and machinery for minerals processing, has inaugurated its 51st service plant in the world at an investment of $7.5 million in Arequipa, a city that is close to the great mining projects that are being developed in the south of Peru, notes Proinversion on a report from El Comercio. Aldo Cermenati, Vice President of Services for the Pacific area, noted that Metso has constructed five new plants in the last five years, the majority of them in Latin America. “We have inaugurated many services centres, but the core is in this region, particularly in Arequipa and surroundings, where there is a huge Metso equipment installation distributed in mining and cement operations.”

He added that the company is already considering an extension of this plant of Arequipa, in order to support the development of great mining projects in progress. “We do not only supply our traditional clients, such as Cerro Verde, Southern, El Brocal, Hochschild, Buenaventura, Tintaya and cement companies of the south, but also mining projects in construction, such as Las Bambas, Constancia and the extensions of Southern, from where will come the needs of service and future support”, indicated Peter Hartmann, General Manager of Metso Perú.

The inauguration of the service plant in Arequipa represents the second investment of Metso in Peru in 2014. Previously, last April, it completed the extension of its rubber plant in Lima, with an investment of $1 million.

These projects will enable that the company may grow 12% in Peru this year, just in the area of services. “In 2013 we will invoice €55 million in services, discounting the imports and sale of capital goods that are recorded separately. For this year we expect to reach €62 million,” indicated Hartmann.

He added that the most ambitious plan of Metso, including the sale of equipment, is to pass €90 million during the next 12 months.