METSO OUTOTEC: Planet Positive Approach Accelerates Sustainable Development

Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Metso Outotec – provider of technologies and services to improve customers’ energy and raw material efficiency, water resources management and safety- employs over 15,000 people in more than 50 countries and accrued sales for 2021 in the region of €4.2 billion. “Our extensive offering for the full plant, from equipment to a broad range of services, helps our customers improve their profitability and lower their operating costs and risks,” Metso Outotec relays.

“We have strong R&D and innovation power, and we are continuously looking for new ways to introduce innovations for our customers’ benefit.” In Africa, Metso Outotec has been a key player in mining operations for decades, and now the company is helping clients to use less power, less water, emit less carbon, and recover more while using less.

“We understand our customer’s world and the daily challenges they face. Together, we can partner for positive change,” Metso Outotec issues as its strong promise.

PLANET POSITIVE

Over the years one of the company’s great successes has lain in its ability to straddle substantial involvement in heavy mining and with major manufacturing operations around the world with making sustainability a strategic priority. “It is at the core of our offering and operations,” Metso Outotec stresses. “We strive to create the biggest possible impact by actively supporting and enabling our customers in their sustainability ambitions.

“Our Planet Positive offering focuses on energy and water efficiency which contributes to a circular and carbon-neutral economy.” Identifying the enormous demand for environmental efficiency within its customers’ key industries, in particular the highly energy and water intensive mining industry, Metso Outotec provides durable, energy-efficient equipment and services that last for a long lifecycle.

“We aim to be a sustainability leader in our industry,” is the lofty ambition towards which it strives daily. “By innovating new and better technologies and by improving our ways of operating, we help to create a more sustainable future. We are striving for net zero and committed to limiting global warming to 1.5 °C.”

In November, it was reported that Kamoa Copper S.A. had selected Metso Outotec to supply a high-capacity Direct Blister Furnace to the company’s copper mining complex expansion in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s largest capacity flash smelting furnace. Metso Outotec has delivered more than 60 flash furnaces around the world since the 1950s, the most utilised technology in pyrometallurgical copper production. The company boasts the cleanest smelting method available, which forms an integral part of the company’s Planet Positive offering.

“Non-ferrous metals play a key role in the green transition,” underlines Jyrki Makkonen, Vice President, Smelting at Metso Outotec, “and a major increase in global copper production is required to support this transition. We are pleased to support Kamoa Copper in their ambitious expansion project, in which high capacity and reliable, sustainable processes play a vital role.”

Constantly evolving is Metso Outotec’s innovative Mining Truck Body (MTB), a solution launched back in 2019 and now quickly gaining traction in the mining market. Its unique, one-piece, lightweight hybrid haul truck tray combines the best of high-strength steel and rubber, with the lighter weight also translating more sustainable to further align with the Planet Positive ethos, engendering increased payload and lower fuel consumption per hauled tonne.

“We have had very good customer responses,” shared Carl Samuelson, Metso Outotec’s Director of Loading and Hauling Solutions. “I would say after payload increase and fuel/tonne savings the increased wear life is very much appreciated. The evolution of the MTB continues, and the design never stands still – it is continuously updated with new features, structural design tweaks and new rubber grades with a focus on reducing even more weight.”

EXPANDED DISTRIBUTION

Last year Metso Outotec and its distribution partner, BIA Group, announced the expansion of its aggregates distribution coverage to Africa, meaning that Metso Outotec’s stationary and mobile equipment, spare and wear parts coupled with BIA’s technical expertise and local presence, would become available for aggregates customers in West and Central Africa.

“This expansion of our distribution partnership with BIA enables us to reach out to new territories, where we were not present earlier,” stated Olli-Pekka Oksanen, Senior Vice President, Global Distribution Management at Metso Outotec. “Our portfolio covers the needs of different types of customers and applications and meets the local requirements and standards. We are happy to be able to utilise the opportunities in the region in collaboration with BIA.”

The two companies have successfully partnered in the Benelux region since 1930. This decision to expand to Africa was driven by a shared ambition to reach and serve customers in the region better than ever before, and capitalise on the dynamic nature of the African markets driven by both GDP and population growth and large construction projects which positively impact aggregate demand.

“This distribution agreement extension for West and Central Africa demonstrates the willingness of BIA and Metso Outotec to strengthen their historical partnership that started over 90 years ago with Nordberg for Belgium,” rounded off Vincent Bia, CEO of BIA Group. “Since then, both companies have continuously developed their products and services to gain an unrivalled expertise that serves both the aggregates and mining customers.

“We are confident that BIA’s market knowledge and local presence together with Metso Outotec’s solutions and technologies will form complementary assets to meet the ever-growing needs of our customers.”