Metso has developed a solution to ease the maintenance of VERTIMILL grinding mlls. The innovative VERTIMILL Liner Lifting Fixture speeds up the changing of the mill liners and makes it safer. Metso has been testing the tool at a customer site since June 2013 and it will be available for existing and future customers in early 2014. The new VERTIMILL Liner Lifting Fixture was designed to meet growing customer demand for a more efficient way to handle liner changing. As new, larger VERTIMILL Grinding Mills with correspondingly larger and heavier liners have caught on, the traditional method of installing the screw liners with basic lifting tools has proven difficult and unsafe.

“Our approach was to work backwards from what clients need and want so our design is unique in the way that all operational constraints are considered and will offer a flawless solution by combining Metso experience and customer feedback”, explained Clive Heath, Technical Development Manager, Life Cycle Services Metso Mining and Construction. “You cannot perform today’s tasks with yesterday’s methods and expect to be in business tomorrow.”

“Providing added value for our customers through continual optimisation of current practices is one of our main goals. This new method of VTM liner replacement is just one of those examples where Metso has developed an innovative solution to help its customers succeed”, says Simon Pelletier, Senior Vice President of Life Cycle Services, Metso Mining and Construction.

Metso draws from more than 100 years of mill design and manufacturing expertise, and over three decades of successful VERTIMILL grinding mill applications. Since its introduction in the late 1970s, close to 420 VERTIMILL grinding mills have been sold worldwide. Metso states: “The high-capacity vertical grinding mill has proven to be a versatile tool that exhibits many advantages over traditional ball milling. In comparison to traditional ball mills, in fine and regrind applications, the VERTIMILL mills can perform the same grind with 30% to 50% less energy and significantly lower grinding media consumption. The VERTIMILL application range is also being extended into the coarse and secondary applications, creating more energy saving opportunities. Furthermore, the machine has fewer moving parts than a ball mill, translating into faster and cheaper installation, lower maintenance and operating costs. These features bring substantial savings for mining companies.”