Mineral Resources Ltd told investors at its annual general meeting last week that it had designed a 15 Mt capacity portable crushing plant and planned to develop it in joint venture with Metso.

The “Next Gen” crushing and screening plant is expected to come with low capital and operating costs, in addition to significant flexibility with its portability.

The ASX-listed mining services company said it planned to install its first unit on site in the June quarter of 2020 and that it should take eight weeks to mobilise and commission at site.

The JV with Metso is expected to see both companies develop and market the plant.

In addition to the crushing and screening plant, MinRes said it had developed a carbon fibre manufacturing facility producing “structural members” and that four 150 t dump truck trays had been made, with field testing currently taking place on site.

The company, which says these trays will increase dump truck payloads by 10-15%, is expected to carry out durability trials to understand wear rates, ongoing optimisation of both tray and workshop and commence manufacturing of 200 t dump truck trays in the next 12 months.