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Following an international tender, Metso and the industrial service provider Ferrostaal Industrieanlagen GmbH, Germany (Ferrostaal) have been awarded a joint contract to build a railcar dumper facility for the iron ore producer Société Nationale Industrielle et 
Minière (SNIM) in the harbor of Nouadhibou, Mauritania. The value of the order will not be published.
“SNIM’s ambitious strategy is to boost our annual iron ore production capacity up to 40 million tons in 2025 through the start-up of a new iron ore plant GUELB II in mid-2014. As a consequence we need more loading capacity and facilities in the harbor of Nouadhibou for loading the iron ore onto ships. Metso and Ferrostaal were natural choices for this project as we have worked with both companies for years with great results”, states SNIM director.
Ferrostaal and Metso will deliver the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the new railcar dumper. The delivery also includes an automatic positioner to move the loaded wagons into the dumper and also an automatic extractor to remove the unloaded wagons. This new system will boost the facilities’ throughput capacity up to 6,000 tons per hour. The new railcar dumper facility will be operational in 2015. The order has been included in Metso’s Mining and Construction Q2 2013 orders received.
“Metso is pleased to continue its long relationship with SNIM, having supplied the first railcar dumper to SNIM as long ago as 1963. This new Metso railcar dumper will significantly increase the unloading capacity at the terminal and will be a prestige reference for us” says David Hicken, VP, Bulk Materials Handling, Global Sales, Mining and Construction, Metso.
“This project will help to boost the iron ore export of Mauritania. After already having successfully launched two industrial projects for SNIM, this order expresses the trust in the expertise of Ferrostaal for industrial projects”, explains Kay Hanns Ewaldsen, Managing Director of Ferrostaal Industrieanlagen GmbH.
Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière’s (SNIM) is a Mauritania state owned company and one of the world’s more prominent iron ore producers and exporters. SNIM is currently operating several iron ore processing plants in the Zouerate region.
Ferrostaal Industrieanlagen acts as a general contractor for the planning and realisation of industrial plant solutions in the oil & gas, processing and mechanical sectors. The company assumes project management responsibility from raw material through to end product and provides services ranging from supplying plant components to installing equipment through to constructing turnkey manufacturing and distribution plants. Ferrostaal Industrieanlagen is a member of the Ferrostaal Group, a global technology-independent, manufacturer-independent and supplier-independent industrial services provider. Some 4,400 employees combine decades of industrial expertise with financing competence on behalf of the customers. Ferrostaal has own companies in around 40 countries.
