Tag Archives: Metso

Metso scores repeat mill liner order from Africa mine site

Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining consumables, Steel and iron ore, Sustainable mining, , , , ,

Metso says it has been awarded repeat orders for a mining customer’s sites in Africa for the supply of liners for SAG and ball mills. Metso’s scope of supply includes metallic liners for the SAG mills, and Metallic and Megaliner ™ composite linings for the ball mills.

Additional services are offered including MillMapper™ liner wear monitoring, Metrics digital monitoring, on-site support and performance guarantees.

By using Metso’s expertise and world-class technology the customer will be able to ramp-up faster to optimal mill speed, enhance grinding efficiency and reduce pebble production, the OEM claims.

Additionally, the site will improve by having quicker and safer liner installations, as well as gain improved performance by implementing wear life simulations. Megaliner offers efficient liner replacement which results in reduced downtime for relining, as well as increased safety during the reline, Metso claims.

The value of the orders amounts to circa €14 million ($15.5 million). The first part of the orders was booked in the Minerals segment’s June quarter, and the rest in the September quarter 2024 order received.

Sherwin Preamdutt, Director Sales & Service Region Central East Africa, said: “We are delighted with the customers’ trust in our solutions and expertise. Metso’s advanced technologies help our customers improve performance on-site in terms of increased production and enhanced efficiencies. This coupled with the improved sustainability aspects of the Metso liners made the value proposition more attractive to the customer. We are committed to executing on our actions and providing increased value to our customers operations,”

Metso says it offers a comprehensive range of mill linings and related services, with materials and designs optimized for each specific application.

Swiss Tower Mills and its vertical grinding mills to come into the Metso fold

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

Metso says it is investing in the development of energy-saving comminution technology and has signed an agreement to acquire the outstanding shares of its long-term partner Swiss Tower Mills Minerals AG (STM).

Previously, Metso had a 15% minority ownership in the company. The parties have agreed not to disclose the transaction value.

Metso decided to exercise its right of first refusal following the divestment decision of STM’s other shareholders. As a result of the transaction, Metso’s ownership will increase to 100%. Metso has reported its previous 15% shareholding as a non-current financial asset.

Swiss Tower Mills Minerals, based in Baden, Switzerland, specialises in vertical grinding mill solutions. It is best known for the HIGmill™ grinding mill, which has been exclusively sold and serviced by Metso. This technology is crucial in modern grinding circuits and integral to the development of energy-efficient comminution processes, for example, in combination with Metso HRC™e high-pressure grinding rolls, Metso says. Over the years of cooperation, the use of vertical grinding mill technology has seen significant growth, and the trend is expected to continue.

Markku Teräsvasara, President, Minerals business area and Deputy CEO at Metso, said: “We are excited to have the Swiss Tower Mills Minerals team as part of Metso. For many years, we have collaborated in serving customers in the mining industry. Going forward, our customers will continue to benefit from an unrivalled comminution solutions offering, which we will develop further.”

Fritz Moser, Chairman of the Board of Swiss Tower Mills Minerals, said: “Being fully convinced that Metso is highly committed to further develop Swiss Tower Mills Minerals as the benchmark of the art of grinding, together with my private shareholder colleagues, we have decided to divest our ownership in the company. Hence, we are pleased to know that the technology we have established together with Metso for the mining industry will remain an essential part of Metso’s flowsheet capability.”

The acquisition, which is subject to the approvals of anti-trust authorities, is expected to be closed in early 2025.

In 2022, the Weir Group announced an alliance with STM in which Weir would market STM’s vertical stirred grinding mills for coarse grinding applications worldwide.

Last year, Weir announced the completion of the STM Minerals AG vertical stirred mill commissioning at the Weir Technology Hub in the Netherlands, as part of its energy-efficient comminution and classification solutions for customers.

Metso books Planet Positive copper tailings dewatering plant order

Base metals, Environmental, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , ,

Metso has been awarded an order for the delivery of sustainable tailings dewatering technology to an operating copper mine in Africa, with the total value of the order exceeding €20 million ($22 million).

Metso’s scope of delivery consists of the engineering and supply of a Planet Positive copper tailings dewatering plant unit including an HRT High Rate thickener and Larox® FFP3512 filters and auxiliaries with latest design hole-less filter cloths and single polymer plates lowering operating costs. The high-capacity Larox FFP3512 filters are the first of their kind to be installed in Africa, and feature, among other elements, superior anti-corrosive elements to tackle the highly corrosive tailings slurry, Metso notes.

The dewatering plant is part of a larger backfill project required for the continued development of the ongoing operations at site. The intention is to filter the existing concentrator tailings and use them as mine backfill when mining out the copper pillars.

Metso’s filtration product portfolio is one of the largest with the energy, emission and water efficiency in a league of its own, the OEM says. Metso has carried out over 14,000 filtration tests and delivered more than 5,000 filters for various applications worldwide.

Metso bolsters filtration offering with Glass Media filter

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

Metso is expanding its polishing filtration product family with the addition of the GM (Glass Media) filter, designed to, the OEM says, remove insoluble organics in battery metals processes by using very efficient and patented coalescing media.

With its cost-effective and modular design, the GM filter increases the recovery and recycling of valuable process chemicals.

Mika Vuorikari, Director of Industrial Filtration at Metso, said: “The GM filter is an ideal choice when insoluble organics need to be removed and recovered. Thanks to its efficient coalescing media for hydrometallurgical applications, the GM filter can perfect the removal and recovery of insoluble organics at a much higher velocity than the traditional coalescing medias. In applications where an Active Carbon (AC) filter needs to be used for dissolved organics adsorption from the process, the AC filter’s efficiency and media lifetime can be improved by utilizing a GM filter in front of it.”

The Metso GM filter is designed for variable sizes of process streams and its modular design makes it easy to expand to meet plant process requirements. It also optimises back washing with filtered process liquid and circulates back to the process, ensuring that water consumption is kept to a minimum. The low pumping pressure of the filter also results in lower energy consumption.

Together with the Dual Media (DM) and Active Carbon (AC) filters, Metso has a complete filtration portfolio for SX electrowinning and crystallisation processes. Strong know-how and experience from the hydrometallurgical industry allows Metso to design industry-leading filtration solutions for battery minerals processing. Metso has delivered more than ninety DM and AC filters to metallurgical SX processes globally.

Metso strengthens Canada footprint, proximity to customers with Prince George service centre

Mining equipment, Mining services, ,

Metso says it continues to strengthen its footprint and proximity to customers by investing in a new service centre in Prince George, British Columbia.

British Columbia is one of the emerging mining regions in Canada and the new facility will support the growing needs of customers, primarily operating in copper and gold segments, according to the company.

Justin Ayotte, Vice President, Sales and Service, Canada, Metso, says: “The new service centre enhances our ability to deliver OEM-certified on-site inspections, turnkey service solutions and off-site repairs. Strategically located near a key mining region, it enables faster repair times, shorter turnaround and sustainability benefits by reducing transportation distances. We will also offer comprehensive field service support to better serve our customers.”

The centre will service a wide range of mining equipment from pit to port, including filters, flotation cells, grinding mills, crushers, screens, pumps and apron feeders.

With approximately €6 million ($6.68 million) invested, Metso plans to begin construction after the land acquisition is finalized, with completion expected in the second half of 2025. The new center will create jobs to skilled personnel, including service engineers and technical experts.

In late 2023, Metso announced plans to enhance customer service capabilities in North America by expanding the Mesa Service center in Arizona. This expansion will increase the repair shop area by nearly 60%. Additionally, a state-of-the-art and fully equipped training centre will be built on the same property to bridge the knowledge gap between people, equipment and operational goals in the region. Both the service centre expansion and the training centre are expected to be completed during the December quarter of 2025.

Beyond North America, Metso continued to invest in its service footprint. In March 2024, Metso inaugurated its largest Service centre globally in Karratha, Australia. The company also announced plans to expand its service center in Chile and construct a new service centre in Peru.

Metso has an extensive service center network with over 3,000 field services professionals, technical support and more than 40 service centres on six continents. The company has a service certification program and has been consistently investing in its people and service center network to enhance its customer service capabilities.

Metso plays software hand in face of mining market competition, industry challenges

Automation, Comminution of minerals, IoT, Mining equipment, Mining services, Mining software, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

With the mining industry’s growing understanding and openness to the benefits of digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI), it was only a matter of time before some of the big OEMs ventured further into the software development space. That time is now with Metso having, today, opened a Digital Design and Development Studio in Krakow, Poland, to complement its already wide digitalisation offering.

Many mining companies around the world regularly interact with software carrying the Metso name: think of the ACT/OCS-4D™ platforms for advanced process control, the Geminex™ digital twin and HSC Chemistry for minerals and metals process simulation and optimisation, or the Metrics monitoring service.

The company’s latest software developments will go beyond these legacy solutions, leveraging what it refers to as “leading-edge digital capabilities” to solve some of the industry’s major issues.

Olivier Guyot, Senior Vice President for Minerals Digital at Metso, admits the minerals industry might have “missed the first train” when it comes to developing software that leverages AI and machine learning, but he still sees a major market opportunity for Metso, with customers more prepared to embrace digitalisation.

“We have recently had many customer meetings where we have shared our digital strategy,” he told IM. “It has been clear from these interactions that there is an opportunity for us to make inroads into this market.”

Metso doesn’t have an intention to compete with pure software players in this space. It is also cognisant its customers will not be open to adding another vendor to their already extensive list of digital suppliers without a proven value proposition.

“As a result, what we are focused on when it comes to software development, user experience design, data and AI is related to our expertise – equipment, services, process and materials technology, etc – and how to embed and integrate it seamlessly into an already mature plant ecosystem,” Guyot added.

“We really see digital as a complement to our core competencies, rather than something separate.”

When broken down, the rationale for Metso dipping its toe into the software development space now makes sense.

Guyot explains: “I feel we also need to go back to basics: start off with the right level of automation, sensors and analysers at site – these are the data generators. Without the optimisation of these hardware elements, the data coming back will not be accurate enough to produce valuable digital insights and analytics. This is the information that AI and machine-learning algorithms require.

“Without the right quality of data and the right domain knowledge, the outcome of these AI solutions might not be directly usable. We feel we have that domain knowledge, providing a legitimate claim to come and deploy our expertise digitally in many forms for our customers.”

The growing number of digital experts working in the Krakow office – currently estimated to be around 50 – can build these software solutions with knowledge of the underlying hardware in mind. This knowledge will come from interactions and collaborations with product and service experts, personnel at Metso Performance Centers across the globe, and more.

Geminex
Metso’s Geminex uses “first-principle” dynamic process and equipment models for calibrated performance to help provide an ‘accurate’ digital twin for existing operations

The brief for these digital designers is to focus on three key areas:

  • Equipment performance to provide digitally-enhanced Life Cycle Services (LCS), remote condition monitoring and prescriptive maintenance;
  • The process performance digital portfolio to optimise customers’ ore-to-metal operations for efficiency and sustainability; and
  • Business enablement to enhance customer experience and improve employees’ productivity within a data-driven, AI-augmented environment.

“To support these three priorities, we need to continuously develop our digital capabilities and that is what we are doing in Krakow to complement our existing capabilities,” Markku Teräsvasara, President Minerals & Deputy CEO at Metso, told IM.

Of course, the investment in this studio also reflects the industry’s continued requirement to address a growing labour and skills shortage, as well as the expected need to produce more metals for the electrification transition.

“If the industry is to produce more metals in a more sustainable and safe manner, digital solutions will be needed,” Teräsvasara added.

There is clearly an opportunity for Metso to leverage software as a market differentiator, but the move also reflects a growing sense of responsibility to in-source more of the digital supply chain.

Guyot explained: “Cyber security is not something we can delegate to anyone when it comes to servicing customers – especially with more of the information being on cloud-based platforms now.

“The Krakow Studio will allow us to responsibly develop this software hand in hand with cyber security in mind.”

And Guyot and Teräsvasara say this software development responsibility goes beyond just the Metso equipment portfolio, with customers able to also use this new software on all their equipment, irrespective of the supplier.

“Our software will be available to ourselves and our customers,” Teräsvasara said. “We will help our customers with all their equipment and performance issues, as we do with some existing LCS contracts.”

With the investment in this new Digital Design and Development studio, Metso is putting another marker down that could have positive ramifications for its customers and the wider mineral processing sector.

Metso teams up with Anglo American to develop ‘breakthrough hydrocyclone technology’

Comminution of minerals, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Sustainable mining, , , , ,

Metso says it has launched a “breakthrough hydrocyclone technology” in the form of the MHC Hydrocyclone Curved Bottom (CB), a cyclone designed for superior particle separation with increased unit capacity and coarser cut sizes while minimising the fines bypass.

The MHCTM CB hydrocyclone is ideal for grinding circuit classification – from primary to fine grinding – and for a full range of mineral types, according to Metso. It is highly compatible with dewatering and desliming applications, and relevant to both greenfield and brownfield projects with a design that makes it easy to retrofit into existing hydrocyclone clusters.

Ben Klein, Product Group Manager of Hydrocyclones at Metso, says: “The design of the MHCTM CB is based on the proven MHCTM Hydrocyclone but upgraded with new innovative features, making it a true breakthrough technology for the classification process. Thanks to this unique patented design, the new hydrocyclone offers higher unit capacity compared to standard hydrocyclone technologies. The MHCTM CB is also capable of producing coarser overflow products for a given hydrocyclone size, allowing for greater flexibility in classification and especially beneficial to new coarse particle flotation circuits. Finally, it provides enhanced classification efficiency by minimizing unwanted fines and water in the underflow.”

The solution was developed in partnership with Anglo American, which has worked with Metso since the onset in investigating improvement in hydrocyclone classification, according to Klein.

“Anglo American has provided support with both large-scale laboratory and pilot testing to prove the technology,” he explains. “Imperial College has also provided support in bringing this concept to light and in confirming the validity of this new technology as a third party.”

Metso is promoting this product for a variety of applications including, but not limited to, lithium, gold, aggregates, nickel, magnetite, hematite, limestone, aluminum, zinc, molybdenum and silica.

Thanks to its energy efficiency and reduction in CO2 emissions compared with similar wet classification technologies, the MHCTM CB hydrocyclone has been approved as part of Metso’s Planet Positive offering.

Metso celebrates opening of new filtration tech centre with upgraded Larox PF 60 launch

Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , ,

Metso has introduced the upgraded Larox® PF 60 series pressure filter at the opening ceremony of the new machining unit at the company’s Filtration Technology Center in Lappeenranta, Finland.

The Larox PF 60 series filter is part of Metso’s Planet Positive offering, thanks to its advanced features that decrease water and oil usage by up to 90% and 75%, respectively. In addition, it can reduce the need for installed electric power by 25%, Metso claims.

The filter has a compact and open design, which translates to less floor space required and a significant improvement in ease of maintenance. The structure has also been upgraded to meet the latest seismic standards. To ensure optimised lifelong performance, Metso offers a comprehensive service portfolio including remote support.

Jussi Venäläinen, Vice President of the Filtration business line at Metso, said: “The new version of the Larox PF 60 series filter marks a step change in the technological development of tower filters. It significantly improves safety, process efficiency and dewatering capacity in mining and other process industry applications, thanks to its novel technological solutions. This upgraded model is fully automated to enable flexible operation for process variations and is future-ready for different plate pack configurations to provide consistent and homogenous filter cake with efficient solids wash.”

The investment into a new machining unit at the Filtration Technology Center in Lappeenranta goes hand in hand with the development of the Larox PF 60 pressure filter and Metso’s ambition to offer customers the best and most responsible filtration technology available, according to Tero Tiainen, Director for Filters Manufacturing at Metso. “The highly automated machining unit significantly increases our manufacturing capacity and enables the production of high-quality filter components in a safer, more environmentally friendly manner.”

Besides the manufacturing of advanced filters used in various process industries, Metso’s Filtration Technology Center operates a globally unique Dewatering Technology Center, which is focused on solid-liquid separation, the OEM says. Metso has carried out more than 14,000 filtration tests and delivered more than 5,000 filters for various applications worldwide.

Metso Sorocaba foundry and rubber factory achieves carbon-neutral status

Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining services, Sustainable mining, ,

Metso says its Sorocaba foundry and rubber factory in Brazil has received carbon-neutral certification in line with PAS 2060:2014 standard from an independent third-party, BSI.

The supply chain operations are pivotal to Metso’s overall CO2 footprint, with the Sorocaba foundry and rubber factories accounting for around 20% of Metso’s own operation’s CO2 emissions, according to the OEM.

Heikki Metsälä, President, Consumables Business Area, said: “Metso aims to achieve net zero by 2030 in its own operations, and the certification now obtained is a step towards the set goal. Carbon neutrality is more difficult to achieve in highly energy-intensive foundry operations and our customers increasingly seek evidence of our emissions reductions to help them meet their own ambitious climate objectives. The Carbon Neutral verification aids our customers in reducing their supply chain emissions.

“We want to be a sustainable partner for our customers and the certificate is a great example of making tangible actions.”

The most significant initiative towards acquiring the certificate was implemented during the March quarter of 2023 when the Sorocaba foundry and rubber factory partnered with a local supplier for biomethane sourced Gas Renewable Energy Certificates (GAS-RECs) enabling the units to zero its remaining CO2 emissions from 2023. In addition, other environmental initiatives following plans towards net zero were implemented.

The improvement actions in Sorocaba, one of Metso’s biggest production hubs, will continue on many fronts including investment to replace the existing gas boiler with an electric one in its rubber factory and a joint effort between screening manufacturing, foundry and rubber factory to increase own renewable energy production, Metso says.

Marcelo Motti, Vice President, Sales and Service, Brazil, Metso, said: “This certification is the latest of our efforts to support our customers in their sustainable mining ambitions in South America. This year we have also opened a new logistics and distribution centre as well as introduced a unique circularity solution for mill liner recycling in Chile.”

Metso’s Sorocaba manufacturing operations include a foundry and a rubber factory that are now certified, as well screening equipment manufacturing, pumps manufacturing and a service hub. Today, Metso has approx. 1,700 employees working in production, sales, and field service in Brazil.

Metso HIGmill heading to African copper project

Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Mining equipment, , , , ,

Metso says it has been awarded an order to deliver grinding mills to an African copper mining project, with the order representing approximately €20 million ($22 million) of business.

Metso’s scope of delivery consists of energy-efficient HIGmill™ high-intensity stirred mills with auxiliary equipment and services, it says.

The OEM has experience with over 8,000 grinding mill installations globally, including manufacturing and delivering the largest SAG/AG and ball mills in the world, it says.

Metso’s HIGmill is an advanced and energy-efficient fine and ultra-fine grinding solution and is part of its portfolio of stirred mills that meets a wide range of customer requirements. The HIGmill takes advantage of gravitational forces and GrindForce™ rotor technology to produce a finer grind for mineral liberation. It is also part of Metso’s Planet Positive offering.