Tag Archives: Planet Positive

Metso to deliver a high-capacity grinding mill for Bomboré gold mine expansion

Comminution of minerals, Mining equipment, Precious metals, , , , , , , ,

Orezone Gold Corp has awarded Metso an order for an 18 MW SAG mill for the Phase II Expansion at its Bomboré gold mine in Burkina Faso.

Christoph Hoetzel, SVP, Grinding business line at Metso, said: “The Premier™ SAG mill to be delivered to Bomboré is part of our Planet Positive offering thanks to its energy efficiency.

“This high-capacity SAG mill, which will be one of the largest gear driven mills installed in Africa, is based on proven technology. It features an efficient LSS drive, and a Polymer Hydrostatic Shoe Bearing system, which significantly improves radial and axial bearing reliability and longevity. It is also equipped with the Metso MillSense™ mill charge sensor system, which helps to stabilise and optimise the grinding process to ensure reliable operation and increased throughput.”

In October 2023, Orezone released the results of an expansion study which will incorporate a 4.4 Mt/y hard-rock plant to the 5.9 Mt/y oxide plant for a total processing rate of 10.3 Mt/y – a significant increase in gold production at a low incremental capital cost, it says. First gold from the hard-rock plant is scheduled for the September quarter of 2025.

Metso says it offers the industry’s widest range of horizontal grinding mills, including Premier and Select™ mills. These mills, Metso says, can be easily integrated with its mill relining equipment and are supported by the company’s extensive services network to ensure optimisation during the mills’ lifetime.

Metso also offers a comprehensive mill linings range and relining services, with materials and designs optimised for each specific application.

Minera Arqueros to use Metso equipment for copper sulphide concentrator

Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Minera Arqueros S.A. has awarded Metso an order to deliver the key equipment for its greenfield copper sulphide concentrator plant project in Coquimbo, Chile.

The value of the order exceeds €10 million ($6.6 million), with the scope of delivery covering the equipment from crushing to flotation, including, for example, feeders and vibrating screens, primary, secondary and tertiary crushers, a ball mill, as well as several TankCell® and ColumnCell™flotation cells.

The grinding mill and TankCell flotation cells are part of Metso’s Planet Positive offering, thanks to their energy and water efficiency, Metso says.

Antti Rinne, Vice President, Flotation at Metso, said: “Minera Arqueros partnered with Metso already in the early stages of the project. We conducted test work for the flotation technology in our R&D Center in Pori, Finland, and supported Arqueros in the flowsheet design for the plant. We have had continuous cooperation since the start of the project, and we look forward to continuing to work with Arqueros.”

Metso boosts wear life on premium rubber offering with Skega Life

Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , ,

Metso is introducing to its mill lining portfolio an innovative rubber, Skega™ Life, with, it claims, up to 25% longer wear life compared with the current premium rubber, Skega Classic.

The new rubber type is developed in Metso’s own laboratory and validated by field studies. Skega Life is a part of Metso’s Planet Positive offering, enabling increased sustainability and safety, optimised throughput, and increased uptime due to improved wear resistance and lower maintenance, the company says.

Fredrik Johansson, Global Product Manager, Rubber and Poly-Met mill linings, Metso, said: “We are excited to introduce Skega Life rubber to our mill liner portfolio. The new rubber is specially developed to have a very good wear resistance in grinding mills processing high abrasive ores. It can be used anywhere where a customer has a rubber application, but it is most beneficial in ball mills larger than 14 ft (4.3 m), AG, and SAG mills of 18 ft or smaller.”

Lars Furtenbach, Director, Research & Technology Development, Metso, added: “Mill liners play a crucial role in the mining process and Metso’s liners are always designed by our experts to meet the customers’ production targets and the mill conditions and enhancing overall process reliability. Field studies and tests have shown that our new rubber compound can have up to 25% longer wear life. The longer wear life reduces CO2 emissions and less liner material will end up in the tailings.”

Metso calls itself a world leader in developing and manufacturing high-performance mill liners. It pioneered the use of rubber linings and invented Poly-Met™, Megaliner™, and Orebed™ mill linings. New products are constantly being developed to enhance customers’ ever more advanced processes, it says, adding that the recent innovations include 3D wear scanning, a full Megaliner range, trommel deflector, Turbo Pulp Lifter, Liner Positioning System and a mill liner recycling service.

Metso-HRT-S

Metso adds to high-rate thickener family with HRT-S

Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , ,

Metso is launching a pre-engineered high-rate thickening solution, the HRT-S, which, it says, will allow significantly shorter delivery times.

The HRT-S complements Metso’s existing high-rate thickener product family which consists of the HRT and HRT-S products. The HRT-S thickener is part of Metso’s Planet Positive offering, enabling savings in power consumption, a reduction in embedded carbon and decreased maintenance costs, Metso says.

Esme Pelser, Product Manager for High Rate Thickeners at Metso, said: “Built upon the perfected HRT technology, which has been available for decades, the HRT-S uses bench-scale and pilot testing to ensure process performance guarantees. With a defined set of features and selected options to choose from, the modular HRT-S enables accelerated project deliveries and shorter installation times.

“The HRT-S is easy to operate and service. We are excited to introduce the full range with options up to 35 m diameter by the end of this year.”

The HRT-S comes with Reactorwell™ technology, which is the new generation feedwell with high solids retention and mixing efficiency that, Metso says, eliminates feed short-circuiting. It also offers low shear rate for ideal floccule growth, even discharge symmetry and excellent feed preparation.

Metso to provide ‘grinding island’ for Almina copper, zinc concentrator in Portugal

Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Almina Minas do Alentejo S.A. is proceeding with the preparations to upgrade the copper and zinc concentrator at its Almina mine in Aljustrel, in the Iberian pyrite belt in Portugal, with the company having placed an order with Metso as the key equipment supplier for this project in the March quarter of 2023, the OEM says.

Metso has now completed the basic engineering of the grinding island. Delivery of the concentrator plant equipment will take place around the end of the June quarter in 2024, with the project expected to be commissioning by the end of the March quarter of 2025.

Saso Kitanoski, President for Metso’s Europe Market Area, said: “Collaboration between Almina Minas do Alentejo S.A and Metso is strong. We are excited to continue working with Almina on this project, for which they selected us to supply the grinding island, ultrafine grinding technology, as well as flotation, filtration and thickening equipment, as well as all slurry pumps. The deliveries will be fast as the plant will be built already within the next 24 months.”

According to Miguel Santos, Senior Sales Manager for Metso Minerals in Iberia & Italy, Almina chose to collaborate with Metso on the engineering for the grinding island as Metso was able to bring extensive expertise and confidence that the project will deliver robust performance, availability and sustainability results.

Santos said: “Almina trusts Metso as a partner for this project as we can provide them with a comprehensive package of solutions to help them achieve their targets. Several of the solutions to be delivered to Almina feature our Planet Positive technology.”

Zinnwald Lithium and Metso engaged in ‘one-stop shop’ studies for LiOH project

Energy minerals, Mineral processing, Mineral project development, Mining services, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , ,

Zinnwald Lithium plc and Metso have continued to make progress developing the beneficiation plant concept for the integrated Zinnwald lithium project near Dresden, Germany.

This project, which is situated in the heart of the European chemical and automotive industries, is designed to supply battery-grade lithium hydroxide (LiOH) to the battery sector.

Anton du Plessis, CEO of Zinnwald Lithium, said: “Achieving resilience and sustainability for the electric vehicle battery supply chain is essential, including in Europe where over 30 new gigafactories are planned by 2030.

“Our vision is to build a world-leading integrated lithium hydroxide operation to support this supply chain, adhering to the highest environmental standards. We are therefore delighted with the progress being made with Metso as we look to design the best possible particle sorting, otherwise known as the beneficiation process, for the plant.”

Metso was engaged to assist Zinnwald Lithium with its definitive feasibility study in early 2022. The two companies have since been working on developing a successful beneficiation process flowsheet based on a complete mineralogical study, batch and locked cycle tests. The design basis of the tests considers the mixture of two distinctive lithium ore types, Alibite Granite and Quartz Mica Greisen, potentially expanding the resource base considerably.

du Plessis said: “After the completion of the beneficiation pilot, we will start refinement of the calcination and hydrometallurgical flowsheet. We have partnered with Metso to develop and deliver this project as a ‘one-stop shop’ to reduce the need for engagement with multiple suppliers and to maximise in-house expertise in the design of the plant from run-of-mine to the battery-grade final product.”

Mikko Rantaharju, Vice President, Hydrometallurgy at Metso, added: “Metso is delighted to support Zinnwald Lithium with the development of this ambitious project. Development and supply of state-of-the-art, sustainable processes and equipment for the critical minerals required for the electric vehicle supply chain is an essential part of our minerals processing expertise.”

Metso provides sustainable technology and equipment for all ore types, including the critical minerals required for the energy transition, supported by its unique Planet Positive offering.

Metso says its solutions for battery minerals cover the entire lithium, nickel and cobalt production chain – from the mine to battery materials and black mass recycling – with project scopes ranging from equipment packages to plant deliveries. For high-end lithium-ion battery chemicals production, Metso’s expertise covers the extraction of lithium from various lithium sources up to battery-grade lithium salts.

Metso expands ore sample, process testing with renovated Pori mineral processing lab

Base metals, Energy minerals, Environmental, Mineral processing, Mining services, Water management, , , ,

Metso has opened a renovated minerals processing laboratory in Pori, Finland, in the process significantly expanding its ore sample and process testing capability to allow for safe and efficient testing around the clock.

Elina Wiik, Manager, Minerals Processing Laboratories at Metso, said: “The number of minerals testing projects has increased steadily during recent years. The new facility enables us to better meet the needs of our customers, for example, by handling larger sample sizes, and boosts our capacity to serve also the expanding testing needs of the battery minerals sector.”

In the design of the laboratory, special emphasis was put on lean processes, a safe working environment and proper ventilation, Metso said.

The new setup enables optimised workflows; for instance, each Metso laboratory flotation cell is placed in a separate safety cabinet.

“This gives us the possibility to use a large number of flotation reagents and to perform complex separation tests for a wide range of samples and ore types,” Wiik says. “Our test work is enhanced by using state-of-the-art laboratory equipment. One of the unique features of the laboratory is the carefully designed facility for safe dry sample preparation, crushing, screening, and splitting.”

With its portfolio of advanced and reliable testing and process expertise as well as process simulation, Metso is a leading supplier in the industry. These capabilities not only help predict and gather test data to deliver optimised process flowsheets, they also support the mining operations to improve recovery, resource efficiency and sustainability with, for example, Metso’s Planet Positive solutions.

Metso to deliver two Vertimill 4500 grinding mills to Canadian iron ore producer

Comminution of minerals, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , ,

A Canadian iron ore producer has awarded Metso an order for two powerful Vertimill® 4500 grinding mills to be delivered in the September quarter of 2024. The value of the order, which exceeds €10 million ($10.6 million), has been booked in Minerals segment’s 2023 September-quarter orders received.

Graham Davey, Director, Stirred Mills at Metso, said: “We are very pleased to collaborate on projects that support decarbonisation of the steel industry through production of high-grade and high-purity iron ore with sustainable processes. The Vertimill stirred grinding mill technology is globally recognised as a leading solution for energy-efficient grinding. Compared to traditional technology, operators can typically save up to 30-35% of the electrical energy and grinding media consumption. A small footprint and easy installation are also big advantages.”

Vertimill technology is an example of Metso’s Planet Positive offering. It is capable of handling feed sizes of up to 6 mm and grinding to product sizes of 30 microns or less. Vertimills are available in standard mill sizes ranging from 11 kW to 3,352 kW.

Since the introduction of the technology in the 1990s, Metso says it has sold over 540 Vertimill units to nearly all types of minerals.

Metso says it is the only manufacturer worldwide that can offer several stirred mill technologies (Vertimill, HIGmill™ and SMD), enabling it to support customers with the most suitable and efficient mill for their application.

Metso launches VertiSense to optimise mineral and hydromet plant process performance

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

Metso is introducing a new solution to its Sense series portfolio of intelligent instruments targeted at solving specific process challenges and enabling optimisation of mineral and hydrometallurgical plant process performance.

VertiSense™, Metso says, enables real-time wear monitoring of screw liners and enhances the grinding process in Vertimill® stirred mills.

Rodrigo Rizzoli, Vice President, Stirred Mills & HPGR Services at Metso, said: “We are excited to introduce VertiSense to our Sense series portfolio of specialised instruments that provide analytical data to better understand processes. VertiSense complements the series well and gives Vertimill stirred mill users a unique tool to maximise operational efficiency through intuitive software and analytics. What VertiSense does in practice is to ensure that wear parts are being replaced at the best time, thereby reducing waste and optimising mill availability.”

The VertiSense solution, part of Metso’s Planet Positive offering, is easy to install, maintain and use, the company says. It monitors liner wear rate and provides frequent reporting on the screw liners to assist plant maintenance personnel. Its wear measurement functionality facilitates the prediction of service life and spare stock planning.

Like the rest of the Sense series products, VertiSense is suited for both new and existing operations.

The Metso Sense series portfolio covers the entire minerals and hydrometallurgical process, helping customers to maximise their profitability and minimise their operating costs and environmental risks. In total, Metso’s intelligent instruments include more than 10 technologies to optimise the mining process.

Metso reflects on mechanical flotation technology evolution

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

Metso is celebrating 50 years of mechnical flotation this month, reflecting on the pivotal role flotation technology has played in the company’s history over the last five decades.

Evolving from humble beginnings at Outokumpu, and then further developed by Outotec, Metso has shaped the course of mechanical flotation and propelled the industry forward, it says.

The OK cell was taken into commercial use in 1973 with a capacity of 16 cu.m. At that time in flotation history, tanks were square-shaped when viewed from the top. As demand for even larger tanks escalated, a 38-cu.m version was introduced to optimise processes and achieve higher recoveries, and, ultimately, to enhance profitability.

During development of the larger flotation cells, the team noticed square-shaped tanks posed challenges in terms of load-bearing capacity at the corners. As a result, the entire industry shifted to round-shaped tanks. Thus, the TankCell® was born in 1995.

“TankCell is a great example of our history in flotation,” Antti Rinne, VP, Flotation at Metso, said. “Everybody who talks of TankCell flotation cells is speaking of our technology. We remain the original and leading provider of TankCell technology.”

Today, Metso TankCell boasts the world’s best flotation performance and offers a wide variety of cell sizes, currently ranging from 5 to 630 cu.m, the company says. This enables compact and cost-effective plant designs, even for high-tonnage operations. Fewer large units result in significant savings in construction costs, piping, cables, instrumentation and auxiliary equipment.

Rinne said: “Now, the biggest cell is almost 20 times larger than the original 38 cu.m. And, when we introduced the FloatForce® mixing mechanism in the TankCell design, it gave customers up to 30% savings in energy consumption and significantly better recoveries.”

Today’s flotation circuits are often designed and optimised with Metso’s HSC simulation tool, thus enabling optimisation of total flotation cell volume and other key flotation parameters, the company says.

Metso Concorde Cell, entering the market as recently as 2021, stands out as a significant milestone in flotation, according to Metso. The Concorde Cell is capable of recovering the unachievable fine and ultra-fine particles, increasing profitability while reducing operating costs, energy consumption and water usage.

This patented technology – the first of its kind – is tailored for finely disseminated and complex orebodies that were once considered inaccessible. For optimal results, it is best when used in conjunction with TankCell technology, Metso claims. Both are part of Metso’s Planet Positive offering and ensure unmatched metallurgical performance, it added.

“Combining the well-proven TankCell technology with Concorde Cells is a low-risk and high-benefit approach,” Rinne says. “The cell produces very high shear and extremely fine bubbles, which increases recovery in particles under 20 microns. Despite being the newest technology in Metso’s flotation portfolio, it has already been deployed at several operations globally.”

Since flotation is a continuous process, maintaining high availability and efficiency is crucial. Metso’s developments in flotation cell technology enable upgrading and retrofitting of older flotation equipment for enhanced performance, the company says. These advancements not only extend the lifespan of existing equipment, but also align operations with environmental and safety standards, ensuring long-term viability and compliance.

For more information on this flotation technology evolution, click here