Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
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Metso will supply minerals processing equipment and services to Russian Copper Co ZAO (RMK) for its copper operation in Chelyabinskya region in southwest Russia. The service contract is for over six years and includes a team of more than 130 Metso on-site personnel and service parts supply. Under the equipment contract, Metso will supply a primary gyratory crusher, three cone crushers, two semiautogenous grinding mills, three screens and three ball mills for the new Mikheevsky GOK copper concentrator. The delivery also includes on-site supervisory services for the installation and commissioning, and on-site training for the operating personnel.
Metso’s life-cycle service contract includes maintenance, planning and operational assistance, process and product support services, as well as wear and spare parts and components for the comminution circuit. Metso will also maintain auxiliary equipment for the whole comminution circuit from the gyratory crusher to the hydro-cyclones.
The complete value of the order is some EUR200 million. The value of the equipment amounts to approximately EUR75 million of the total order. The equipment deliveries will be completed within the third quarter of 2013.
“The construction of Mikheevsky GOK is a project of federal significance and Russian Copper Co starts its implementation with full responsibility. We welcome participation of our old partner – Metso in this project”, states Vsevolod V. Levin, President of RMK.
According to Jerry Dubiansky, Vice President, Global Sales, Equipment & Systems business line, Metso “What makes this project so unique and really exciting for Metso, is that as we will not only be supplying the equipment but also maintaining it, assisting in the operations and being able to continuously monitor performance and efficiency. This arrangement offers maximum operating availability and minimises operational risks, increasing the profitability of the project”.
Mikheevsky GOK is a greenfield project by RMK, which is Russia’s third largest copper producer. The company was founded in 2004. It produces copper concentrate, copper cathodes and copper rods from mineral and secondary raw materials. The startup of Mikheevsky GOK is planned for the third quarter of 2013, and the planned annual production is 18 Mt of copper.
The equipment package includes a primary gyratory crusher designed for a capacity of 4,000 t/h and two comminution lines, each with a design capacity of 1,412 t/h. The comminution lines consist of two large semi-autogenous mills, two large ball mills, heavy duty cone crushers for pebble crushing and a pebble grinding ball mill as well as double deck screens.
With life-cycle services, Metso will draw from its vast global experience with similar operations and the technical expertise of their product lines to deliver a high level of service to Mikheevsky GOK. The planning will be performed during the next two years after which Metso will maintain and assist in the operation of the comminution circuit for six-and-a-half continuous years on cost-per-tonne basis. From the moment the equipment begins to operate, Metso will supply a fully tooled and trained team of over 130 people to Mikheevsky GOK.
