Tag Archives: Metso

Metso splits Flow Control and Minerals business

Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining people, Mining services, Water management, , , , ,

Metso says it has decided to develop the businesses of the Minerals and Flow Control segments separately, with the latter business area appointing Olli Isotalo as President.

Metso’s Board of Directors said it had defined its view on the company’s portfolio strategy and decided that the businesses under the Minerals and Flow Control segments will be further developed separately from each other, the company said.

”All Metso’s businesses and the two segments that are composed of these, have attractive growth opportunities in the coming years,” Metso’s President and CEO, Pekka Vauramo, said. “Capitalising on these opportunities will call for efficient decision-making and allocation of resources.

“However, our businesses have significant differences relating to, for example, customers, cyclicality, growth drivers, sales channels and product development. This is why we made the decision to develop Minerals and Flow Control strategies separately from each other.

“In addition, Minerals and Flow Control share a limited amount of synergies, the majority of which are administrative, thus the separation will make the preparation and implementation of their respective strategies more efficient.”

The Minerals segment includes equipment and services sold to mining and aggregates customers, as well as the recycling business. The Flow Control segment consists of valves and related services sold to various process industries.

The new President of the Valves business area, Olli Isotalo, will come on board on July 15, Metso said. He will also become a member of the Metso Executive Team.

Isatalo has previously served as CEO of Patria Oyj and has held various executive positions at Cargotec Corp, Metso said.

Vauramo said: “I am very pleased that we can utilise Olli Isotalo’s expertise and experience in preparing and further implementing the strategy of the Valves business.”

Isatalo said: “I am excited to join the Valves business area, which has consistently reported good results and has seen overall strong development over the past years. I eagerly look forward to developing a new strategy and creating new growth opportunities for Valves together with its skilled and motivated personnel.”

John Quinlivan, the current President of the Valves business area, will continue as Senior Adviser until the end of 2019 and will support Olli Isotalo during the transition period, Metso said.

Metso to add mobile crushing and screening specialist to group

Comminution of minerals, Industrial minerals, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, , , , , , , , ,

Metso has signed an agreement to acquire McCloskey International, a Canada-based mobile crushing and screening equipment manufacturer with market share in the aggregates sector, as well as customers in the frac sand and industrial minerals segments.

“The mobile aggregate equipment market is expected to grow by 4-6% annually during 2019-2023, driven by the underlying road construction spend,” Metso said. “With this acquisition, Metso will be able to better take part in the attractive growth of mobile products within the aggregates industry.”

The enterprise value of the transaction is C$420 million payable at closing with an additional profitability-based earn-out consideration of up to C$35 million for the two-year period after closing, Metso said.

The deal comes on top of Metso’s recent acquisitions of Chile-based HighService Service and UK-based Kiln Flames Systems.

Pekka Vauramo, Metso’s President and CEO, said the McCloskey acquisition was in line with Metso’s profitable growth strategy.

“It strengthens our aggregates business in key growth areas. The different cycles of aggregates balance our previously more mining-focused Minerals portfolio well,” he said.

Markku Simula, President of the Aggregates Equipment business area in Metso, said customers in aggregates and construction have varying business needs, with this acquisition supporting the company’s expansion plans to “approach customers through multiple complementary channels and offerings to meet their diverse needs”.

He added: “Going forward, Metso plans to continue developing the McCloskey brands and distribution channels independent of the Metso channel. Synergies are, apart from sourcing, mainly revenue-related, resulting from the wider offering available to both channels as well as additional crusher equipment, service and consumable sales.”

In the 12-month period ending September 30, 2018, McCloskey had pro-forma sales of C$464 million ($344 million) and a pro-forma EBITDA margin of 10.3%, with the company’s sales in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, expected to exceed C$500 million, according to Metso.

McCloskey has around 900 employees in Canada, the US and Northern Ireland.

Paschal McCloskey, Founder, President and CEO of McCloskey, said: “We are proud of the growth achieved in a competitive market. I know that joining Metso is the right move for all our customers, employees, dealers and business partners. The combination of our unique focus on products and people and Metso’s global resources will help create even better solutions for our customers.”

Metso said the transaction is expected to be positive for Metso’s earnings per share in 2020. McCloskey will be reported in Metso’s Minerals segment following the acquisition, which is expected to closing during the December quarter of this year.

Metso celebrates 10,000th Nordberg HP cone crusher sale

Comminution of minerals, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining industry recognition, , , , , , ,

Metso says it has reached the significant milestone of 10,000 Nordberg® HP cone crushers sold globally.

The most popular modern cone crusher in the world, the company says, the HP Series™ celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

The 10,000th HP cone crusher unit was handed over to the French aggregates and asphalt producer and urban infrastructure development company, Eurovia, in a ceremony held today at Metso’s Mâcon facility in France.

Arto Halonen, Vice President, Aggregates Crushers at Metso, said: “The HP is undoubtedly one of Metso’s most widely used innovations. It’s a technology that has been evolving throughout the years to meet customers’ changing needs, making their operations more successful through proven performance and reliable output. That’s most likely why HP has become an industry standard for a variety of aggregates and mining applications.”

The origin of the HP Series cone crusher can be tracked back to Milwaukee, USA, in the early to mid-1980s. “The technological breakthroughs by the Nordberg research program re-defined crushing performance and provided the basis for a new type of cone crusher introduced in 1989: the Nordberg High-Performance cone crusher series, today simply known as the HP,” Metso said.

Today, HP cone crushers are engineered and manufactured in Metso’s competence centre in Mâcon, France, with manufacturing also in Brazil, China and India.

A versatile crusher, it is used in a wide range of fixed and mobile applications, varying from limestone to taconite and ballast production to manufactured sand, Metso said.

Halonen continued: “Know-how from developing the HP and from thousands and thousands of customer applications around the world has played an integral part in Metso research and development initiatives in crushing.

“This is an important milestone for Metso and we want to thank our customers for their continued confidence in us during the first 30 years of the HP’s journey and look forward to explore new development possibilities in the years to come.”

Metso pumps business area going with the mining flow

Bulk handling, Environmental, Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining events, Mining services, Water management, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Metso used the recent Bauma fair, in Munich, Germany, to showcase several new solutions, including its MDR500 pump for mill discharge applications.

The MDR500 fits on a frame 1400 and is the largest frame for the MD series to benefit from an innovative pump maintenance slide base, Metso’s Director EMEA, Pumps business area, Steve Sedgwick told IM at the event, ahead of the publication of its annual feature on pumps and pipelines.

In terms of routine inspection or repair, this design allows the complete bearing frame and rotating element to be removed as a unit; thus, impeller, complete gland seal component and back liner renewal can be carried out rapidly and safely. The inlet and discharge piping can remain in place, which aids health and safety.

The MD series has been designed speci¬fically for mill discharge, very abrasive applications and cyclone feed duties, offering sustained efficiency and performance, on top of operational reliability and durability, according to Metso.

The company says it uses only high-performance materials for its MD pumps that come with excellent resistance to abrasion and erosion. Special emphasis has also been placed on components able to withstand exceptional wear from coarse heavy solids due to the modern hydraulic design.

“An oversized robust steel shaft and extra thick casings and liners are just some of the heavy-duty components equipped on our MD series pumps,” Metso said.

While the MDR500 on the Metso stand came with a rubber lining, the company also provides an alternative metal lining for coarse feeds (MDM500).

The pump (MDR500), which as the name implies comes with a 500 mm inlet, has a large diameter, slow-running impeller, on top of double adjustment feature ensuring both suction side and gland side impeller clearances can be set perfectly from new, and maintained throughout the wear life of the components.

This specimen on show was, by far, not the largest model available, with Metso saying it can meet most flow and head requirements for the intended applications.

Last year, the company introduced a new pump test rig at its Sala facility, in Sweden, equipped with a 2 MW motor that could accommodate the company’s largest mill discharge pump – the MDM650 and larger. Some of the pumps tested on this new rig have already been dispatched to a mining customer in South America.

Sedgwick said the company had also sold many pumps to miners in several countries in recent years – for base metal and other operations – and was continuing to register good demand from mining companies around the world focused on gold, iron ore and copper.

He said Metso had also recently made a delivery to a company in the CIS where the pump was being used in conjunction with high pressure grinding rollers in a hard-rock comminution circuit.

Metso doesn’t just supply the pumps that go into these heavy-duty applications, though. It has also helped integrate the equipment into the operations they were built for by supplying rubber pipes, valves and other solutions to ensure they operate to their full ability.

A case in point is Boliden’s Aitik mine, just south of Gällivare in the north-central part of Sweden, where an expansion project to take the operation from 36 Mt/y of throughput to 45 Mt/y has been going on for the past few years.

This 25% increase in production – that came with a subsequent rise in the output of copper concentrate – required every part of the Aitik plant to be optimised, Metso said.

Initial investigation showed if concentrate volumes were to step up with this expansion, the mine would run into capacity limitations with the existing tailings from the plant.

The miner needed a proven solution fast in order to achieve its production goals. It also required one that could cope with environments where temperatures could vary from -40°C to 30°C.

This is where Metso suggested a solution consisting of heavy-duty slurry pumps and rubber-lined steel pipes designed for rugged applications.

The company supplied 16 km of natural rubber-lined pipes, ranging in size from DN200 to DN600, with rubber compensators and branch pipes, and the heavy-duty pumps. The pipes offer five times longer wear life compared with a typical polyethylene pipe, according to the company, and were supplied alongside rubber hoses, and rubber bends equipped with thick long-wear rubber and an “ultra-smooth surface” for low flow resistance to increase the tailing capacity.

Metso expands Latin America offering with HighService Service

Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining mergers and acquisitions, Mining services, , , , , ,

Metso has completed its acquisition of HighService Service, the service division of the Chilean mining engineering, construction and technology company HighService Corp, adding around 1,000 employees to its expanding Latin America operations.

The acquisition was announced in January and was approved by the Chilean competition authority in March.

Mikko Keto, President of Metso’s Minerals Services and Pumps business areas, said: “This acquisition expands our service offering in the Chilean and Pacific Rim mining markets and supports Metso’s growth strategy. It brings us more service experts to support our customers in the region and we are happy to welcome our new colleagues to Metso.”

Just a few weeks ago, Metso was awarded a contract to supply crushing and material handling equipment for the first stage of Codelco’s El Teniente copper mine expansion project in central Chile.

HighService Service offers its customers a variety of services from maintenance to commissioning and remote monitoring. Its circa-1,000 employees are in Chile, Argentina and Brazil. Its sales in the fiscal year 2017 were €60 million ($66.2 million).

Metso Flow Control highlights mining and mineral processing valve expertise

Comminution of minerals, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Water management, , , , , , , , ,

Metso’s industry-leading crushing and grinding technology status is well known throughout the mining world, but its valves expertise is, perhaps, not as familiar.

Complementing both the minerals processing and pump technology the group produces, Metso has been engineering valve solutions for over 90 years. One of the group milestones was the establishment of Neles Oy in 1956, with a focus on Finland’s pulp & paper sector flow control solutions.

Neles®has since become a household name across multiple industries, famous for premium engineered metal-seated valve solutions. The company also acquired the Jamesbury® business some decades ago to add a premium-performance soft-seated valve solution to the portfolio.

Ville Kähkönen, Director, Industry Management, Metso Flow Control, told IM on site at the company’s Hakkila facility, close to Helsinki-Vantaa airport, Finland, that there is a clear distinction between the two product families.

“Jamesbury valves are used in temperatures below 260°C,” he said, adding that the Neles metal-seated valves are the best choice for higher temperatures or when the process media includes abrasive fluids and solids like sand.

Touring the facility and hearing from Kähkönen and Heikki Kärki, Industry Manager, Mining & Minerals Processing, Metso Flow Control, IM discovered just how many of these valves have found their way to mining operations around the globe.

The company manufactures not only the valves, but also the actuators and smart controllers; a fact that sets it apart from many of its competitors supplying just one or two of these elements.

On average, in a minerals processing plant, there can be around 10,000 valve installations across an operation each serving a specific purpose, according to Kärki.

He told IM it is not only Metso knife-gate valves – used for isolation purposes in the mill circuit – that are found in the separation and refinery stages of mining operations; the company provides several types of valve solutions that can be tailor made to the specific application.

This wide-ranging expertise is reinforced by a quick scan of the number of valve installations Metso has carried out over 2000-2018. During this period, the company’s supplied base has covered all but one continent (Antarctica the exception), with applications across what it terms “slurry, utility and severe services”.

In addition to being one of the few companies able to supply the complete valve assembly, including the valve, the actuator and the intelligent valve controller, Metso is rare in having the capability to custom-engineer valves for the harsh, abrasive and acidic conditions that come with autoclave processing. This is a field that has been growing in the nickel, copper and gold space in recent years, Kähkönen said. Standard valves last a matter of weeks in these applications – where pressures can exceed 30 bars, temperatures can exceed 200°C and concentrations can be highly acidic.

A materials technology team with decades of experience, plus an on-going relationship with an autoclave manufacturer, has enabled the company to come up with valve solutions offering a robust coating specifically designed to outlast other solutions in the autoclave market.

The company was also keen to highlight its digitalisation capabilities within the valves space during the visit.

Metso launched its first NP™ series pneumatic positioner already fifty years ago. A digital valve controller – the Neles ND9000 – was introduced by Metso all the way back in 1995 and, since the launch of this product, the company has established smart controllers that collect data to be analysed by Metso’s in-house team or the client themselves, the latest being its Neles NDX® controller.

These controllers have gained such a reputation that other valve manufacturers regularly acquire them to complement their own valve solutions.

Hakkila, which focuses on the Neles engineered valves and intelligent positioners, is one of several Metso valve technology centres worldwide. Its Shrewsbury factory, in Massachusetts, in the US, caters to demand for the Jamesbury valves, while its Horgau, Germany, facility specialises in high performance Neles butterfly valves.

Chungju, in South Korea, looks after Neles globe valves, and its two plants in the Mumbai area, India, concentrate on Jamesbury EasyFlow valves and Neles scotch yoke actuators manufacturing for the India and global markets.

On top of this, it has a second US facility in Minnesota (Fergus Falls), a service and supply centre in Brazil (Sorocaba), a technology hub in Shanghai, China, which manufactures standard Neles and Jamesbury products globally and provides service in the region, and a technology centre in Jiaxing, China, set to open next year.

Annually, Metso delivers around 400 000 valves to different process industries. Additionally, Metso completes over 20,000 valve overhauls and 3,000 site visits. It also carries out over 250 major planned valve shutdowns a year – an element that is important to ensure valves keep working for as long as possible.

And, the company has recently enhanced its valves manufacturing process with the ability to use 3D printing in certain valve components. This is a process offering previously unavailable engineering options that can, for example, improve some of the design features and decrease the weight of valve components.

Blast off at W Resources’ La Parrilla tungsten mine

Comminution of minerals, Explosives and blasting, Industrial minerals, Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, , , , , , , , ,

W Resources says the first T2 blast at the La Parrilla tungsten mine in Spain shot successfully on April 30.

The blast covered a mainly barren zone to prepare access to the 10 m benches closer to the run of mine pad and crusher plant in the Fast Track Mine area, the company said. This explosion continued to open up directly accessible ore to the mine operation.

Ore mined to-date at the operation, which is envisaged as a scalable project, starting at 2 Mt/y to produce some 2,700 t/y of tungsten concentrate and 500 t/y of tin concentrate, before an expansion to 3.5 Mt/y and beyond, has been free-dig or from the early blast area, W said.

“The immediate priority at La Parrilla is to complete the commissioning of the jig and mill plant, which is underway in parallel with the completion of the large-scale concentrator plant,” the company said.

Michael Masterman, Chairman of W Resources, said: “The first T2 mine blast at La Parrilla is a significant event for W Resources and kicks-off the commencement of hard rock mining operations.

“The explosive blast was completed successfully with the highest level of safety and supervision. The ore will be mined at low cost using a truck and shovel operation and transported via the newly constructed ramp to the new 350 t/h crusher plant where it will be crushed and then fed to the newly constructed jig and mill plant as part of the commissioning process.”

The crushing circuit at La Parrilla, supplied by Metso Minerals’ Portugal division, is made up of a C130 jaw crusher and secondary cone crusher, both with vibrating grizzlies prior to size reduction, and two tertiary cone crushers in closed circuit with a double deck banana screen.

With a throughput of 350 t/h, the two alljig® jigs, provided by allmineral, are expected to provide grading, enrichment and cleaning of the pre-ground ore at La Parrilla.

Metso books comminution equipment order from Codelco at El Teniente

Base metals, Bulk handling, Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , , , ,

Metso says it has been awarded a contract to supply crushing and material handling equipment for the first stage of Codelco’s El Teniente copper mine expansion project in central Chile.

The order was booked in Metso’s March quarter 2019 orders and will see the company deliver, among other elements, primary gyratory crushing equipment with apron feeders and conveyer belts as well as related services.

El Teniente is the world’s largest underground copper mine as well as the largest operation of the Chile state-owned copper mining company Codelco. The expansion project, called El Teniente New Mine Level, is expected to add 50 years to the life of the mine, with the first stage expected to start up in 2023.

Once completed, the full expansion will allow El Teniente to maintain its current output of around 450,000 t/y of refined copper, Metso said.

Victor Tapia, President, Mining Equipment Business Area at Metso, said: “We are proud of being part of this landmark project in which we will utilise our process and product knowledge gathered over 150 years of experience.

“In a landscape where challenges are continuously evolving, we are fully committed to keep developing solutions that help our customers to secure sustainable productivity and long-term success.”

Most of the equipment deliveries to El Teniente are scheduled for 2021, while services will be carried out between 2022 and 2023, according to Metso.

“Metso in Chile and Codelco have a long history of cooperation. This order confirms once again our expertise and our position as a leading equipment supplier for underground mining and as a key equipment a supplier for Codelco,” Tapia said.

“Going forward, we’ll focus on providing El Teniente with a high level of performance, reliability and best-in-class support service throughout the project life cycle,” he added.

Metso Q1 financials benefit from strong mining equipment market

Comminution of minerals, Energy minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Mining software, Water management, , , , , ,

Metso’s March quarter results were bolstered by a rise in orders, sales and profit margin in the Minerals division, the company reported today.

Metso posted an operating profit of €100 million ($111 million) for the first three months of the year, up from €80 million a year earlier, with orders received increasing 18% year-on-year to €1.01 billion and sales growing 17% year-on-year to €836 million. Earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) rose from €85 million, or 11.9% of sales, to €104 million, or 12.4% of sales, the company said.

The Minerals division was a big contributor in the quarter, with orders received at €823 million (up from €688 million), sales at €681 million (up from €584 million) and EBITA margin at 12.4% (11.9% previously).

The company noted the strongest growth within the division was from the equipment side, highlighting the second order booked for Albemarle’s new lithium project in Australia as a standout win.

Metso said in its announcement that market activity in both its Minerals and Flow Control segments was expected to remain at the current high level in both the equipment and services business.

Meanwhile, President and CEO Pekka Vauramo, said the group’s results were “strong”, with high growth and improved profitability.

“Our order intake was up 18% year-on-year and the growth was broad-based in both equipment and in services. Together with the healthy order growth of last year this has resulted in a solid order backlog, which we continue to deliver with better efficiency,” he said.

“The mining equipment market looks somewhat stronger compared to the other markets we serve, thanks to the mining customers’ plans to improve productivity and add capacity.”

Metso Truck Body hits the heights at Terrafame Sotkamo mine

Base metals, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Metso may have only just released its new Metso Truck Body, but it has already proven its worth during tests at Terrafame’s multi-metal mine in Sotkamo, Finland.

The mine has been the first one in the world to test the Metso-designed, light-weight body, which can hold almost nine tonnes more payload, improving the efficiency of the mine’s hauling operations.

As an added benefit, the rubber lining of the body cuts the perceived noise in half during loading and significantly reduces vibration.

Metso officially launched the new truck body at the Bauma fair, in Munich, earlier this month.

Esa-Tapani Leinonen, Head of Mining Department at the Terrafame Sotkamo mine, said: “The experience we’ve had during the first few months of testing the body is positive. The capacity and the durability of the body match Metso’s promises. Higher payload and driver comfort are both top priorities for us. The feedback from the drivers has been very positive.

“Metso seems to have done a great job in designing this light-weight body. Despite the higher, 325-t total load, the elevated rear flange manages to keep the boulders on-board without problems,” he continued.

The rubber-lined, light-weight body was installed on Terrafame’s oldest haul truck, a Hitachi EH3500, in December 2018. Prior to installation, the truck already had an impressive track record of 50,000 hours of operation, according to Metso. The new body hauled its first loads from the Kuusilampi open pit just before Christmas.

The mine’s truck fleet is in operation 24/7. Currently, the ore is loaded from the 60-m-deep pit on to the trucks with a Caterpillar 910 Series excavator. One truck drives approximately 40 rounds in a day, equivalent to around 6,500 t of payload.

Timo Sarvijärvi, Head of Mining Sales, Metso Finland, said: “A light weight without compromising durability was our driver in designing the Metso Truck Body. During the test period, we are keeping track of the hauled tonnage and collecting driver feedback.

“In addition to the higher payload, the body is lighter to carry when empty, which further increases cost efficiency. Moreover, we have recorded a reduction of around 10 dB in the noise level on a rubber-lined standard body, which means that rubber is 50% quieter compared to steel. We expect at least a similar reduction in the Terrafame trial.”

Kristiina Karjalainen, Haul Truck Driver at the Sotkamo mine, was among the first drivers to have tested the new Metso Truck Body. She said: “The new rubber-lined truck body has indeed cut noise significantly. Now the loading sounds I hear in my cabin resemble more of a whiz than a loud rumble. There’s been a noticeable reduction in vibration as well.”

According to Karjalainen, the first 40-t bucket load has always been the hardest for the driver. After that, the rock bed smoothes out the noise.

“The side shields of the new light-weight body work as they should, too, protecting the side view mirrors from falling boulders. I would definitely like to see a rubber-lined body installed on truck number 10, the one that I usually drive,” she added.

The Terrafame Sotkamo multi-metal mine, which produces nickel, zinc, copper and cobalt, reached its intended production level during last year. Yet, there’s plenty of material left to haul, with the mine recently applying for a permit to process 18 Mt of ore and 45 Mt of overburden annually.

Esa-Tapani Leinonen said: “In 2021, the amount of overburden to excavate will double, as we proceed with the Kuusilampi pit expansion and remove the large layer of rock covering the orebody.

“Before that, we will have to rethink the responsibilities and the composition of both our own as well as our contractor’s hauling processes. As the amount of hauled material grows, maintaining cost efficiency throughout our truck operations becomes more and more important.”