The venture is controlled by a major investment group in Brazil, which has iron and manganese mining operation and their own port and optimized logistics. The company's innovative approach led it to partner with Metso to optimize their crushing circuit at its iron ore plant in the Midwest region of Brazil.
The mining company's initial challenge was finding a partner that offered a robust, cost-effective alternative to traditional crushing, with a positive track record and focus on delivery time. Additionally, the proposal should present “a unique solution for a more sustainable steel production chain.”
To achieve its goals, the mining company evaluated several options on the market and eventually chose Metso's Crushing as a Service offering as the best solution, based on good references from other Brazilian customers. This new business model is part of Metso's LCS service offering in Brazil.
In its first configuration, the mining company adopted a model with three mobile plants using Lokotracks®, with great success in terms of crushing availability, productivity and safety. Unlike traditional models, the operation and maintenance of the plants were fully executed by Metso.
The excellent performance of the mobile plants, along with the on-site team, gave the company's higher management the confidence to expand the scope of operations. In this new stage, the mining company contracted a semi-mobile plant (on skids), also from Metso, with a production capacity of 3.5 million tons per year (Mtpa).
The highlight of the new configuration was the reduction in plant mobilization time to less than 120 days, a huge achievement for the success of the project.
Metso's LCS contract has an initial duration of three years, with the possibility of renewal. At the end of the contract, the equipment will be reused in new operations, which may or may not involve the same client. The operation and maintenance of the plant remains under Metso’s Crushing as a Service model.
Circularity is another positive aspect of the project and is in line with the mining company’s philosophy. For example, the Lokotracks initially used at the processing plant have been refurbished and are now in operation at other Metso customers.
“LCS is an alternative model to traditional projects, which generally involve long manufacturing periods, demand-based construction, start-up and ramp-up, resulting in high consumption and waste of resources,” says Tiago Batalha – LCS Contract Manager, Metso. “In this model, customers know from day one exactly what their production cost is, which is fixed. This reduces operational risk and the influence of external factors, such as commodity price fluctuations.”