METSO OUTOTEC: Planet Positive Plan Set out by Metso Outotec

In 2021, Metso Outotec – the global supplier of sustainable technologies, end-to-end solutions and services to the aggregates, minerals processing, and metals refining industries – featured amongst the top 100 in the Corporate Knights 2021 Global 100 Index of most sustainable companies in the world. For a company involved in heavy mining and with major manufacturing operations around the world, this was quite the coup.

Of 8080 companies analysed by Toronto-based media and investment advisory company Corporate Knights, Metso Outotec impressed thanks to its ongoing initiatives around sustainability, circular models, and plant first focus.

In Africa, Metso Outotec has been a key player in mining operations for decades, providing advanced solutions to achieve results that would otherwise be impossible. Now, the company is helping clients to use less power, less water, emit less carbon, and recover more while using less. Its global pledge to leave a net positive impact on the planet has attracted positive attention, and Marketing Director for Africa, Francois van Tonder is proud of this Metso Outotec promise.

“That is something that none of our peer companies were even close to,” he smiles.

He explains that sustainability is now a core principle for the business and is included in planning and devising of strategy, both locally and globally.

“Being in the mining industry, a lot of people assume there is no way we can operate in a sustainable manner,” he says. “But Metso Outotec sees itself at the front end of development of machinery and equipment that supports sustainability of the planet. We have a huge campaign globally around being Planet Positive. We want to design, manufacture and supply equipment that is sustainable, and as a company, we also have a huge number of action plans to reduce our own carbon footprint, starting from the manufacturing units, along with suppliers into those units. In addition, we have several initiatives around reducing the carbon footprint in the logistics side and working cleverly to bring positive influence to all of this.”

PLANET POSITIVE

Charles Ntsele, VP Mineral Sales Africa, reiterates this ethos, explaining that the focus for the future surrounds three core elements.

“Sustainable growth is the overarching theme for us. We plan to grow with Planet Positive products, and they talk to sustainability around water efficiency, energy efficiency, and digital solutions,” he says.

“From a consumables point of view – items that are used to protect equipment, like linings and similar – we are looking at updating with sustainable offerings based on updated compounds. We undertake a lot of R&D to improve safety and lifetime, and reuse of material within a circular model. For example, we use rubber and steel to line some of our equipment. At the end of life we want to have the ability to take all of that back, separate, and re-manufacturer using that material.” 

Manufacturing a large range of mining equipment including newly developed flotation products, crushers, grinder, filtration, screening, separation, slurry and tailings management, and much more, Metso Outotec has set an ambitious global target of reducing CO₂ emissions from operations by 50% by 2024 and logistics by 20% by 2025, compared to the 2019 baseline.

ONE BUSINESS

Globally, the company boasts more than 15,000 people and is headquartered in Helsinki. In Africa, Metso Outotec is home to around 450 people and work from main offices in Pretoria, Kitwe, and Accra. Satellite offices, presence on customer sites, and a network of agents and distributors bolster the offering and van Tonder highlights the merger of Metso and Outotec in 2020 as the key factor in firmly establishing the company’s presence on the continent.

“Metso and Outotec merged officially in July 2020,” he details. “The new legal entity in South Africa came into existence in October 2021. The two companies were in South Africa separately for a decade previously. Legally, in South Africa, we now comply with all BBBEE legislation and requirements, and we have done the same with the legal entity in Ghana. We are finishing up the legal entity in Zambia. In Africa, we look after 48 countries. Anywhere south of the Sahara is our responsibility.

“We procure locally, and we have facilities that are not directly under the ownership of Metso Outotec but are partnership relationships where we support localisation.”

Key in the company’s drive for improved sustainability, localisation is being pushed hard in Africa where the appetite for local involvement in value chains grows every day.

AFRICA: RICH OPPORTUNITIES

Van Tonder is extremely optimistic about opportunities on the continent and says that the company will always nurture localisation prospects.

“There is huge potential in Africa,” he asserts. “All the studies in Africa show the potential that we have in new mines – they show something really big. If Africa can get the necessary investments, I think that the whole market can expand a lot. However, one of the major market trends within Africa is localisation. A lot of governments are trying to ensure that all the riches are not taken out of a country. We support localisation and we are trying to ensure viable economic solutions in transforming the market areas that we operate in.”

He cites the 2020 divestment from an operation in South Africa as an example. “Metso used to have a manufacturing facility in Vereeniging and as part of a BBBEE deal, we sold this plant to a black owner and the company is now called Ostem. That is part of our drive to support the local economy. The deal was structured to give us a partnership and we are happy with the outcome,” says van Tonder.

Confident of the Metso Outotec’s offering, and its ability to attract new business as new mines are launched, Ntsele details how a customer-centred approach, built on standards of excellence, is helping this turnkey provider to grow locally.

“From RFQ to receipt to close, the excellence in how we execute that part of our work talks about how we want to deliver for our customer,” he says. “We want to deliver a very positive experience and that includes delivery. We have programmes in place that encourage delivery of service that is excellent in every way, across every measure that is in our control. When the plant exists and there is Metso Outotec technology on site, that is when our service must also be excellent. We must understand the problem we are solving for our customers. Project implementation phase is not the right time to selling value add services, but we leave that on the table as it is required for the effective running of plant. We have a programme called Lifecycle Services and within that, we give the customer the opportunity to lighten their balance sheet, for example, by securing spares through a contractual relationship where we hold those spares in consignment.”

The company also plans shutdowns and maintenance, and helps customers reduce the number of hours the plant is unavailable. “This releases value to the customer,” says Ntsele.  “Sometimes we have to streamline maintenance intervals as these sites are complex with multiple pieces of related machinery. Through our knowledge and experience, we help clients to optimise and that adds value. Our technicians are well-trained and go through an internal certification process so that their service level is guaranteed, and they can be supplied on site for clients as part of a package.” In a new mine, with less experience on site, this is a major asset.  

UNMATCHED PORTFOLIO

The company’s ore to metal solutions and service range is a key differentiator in the marketplace. Combine this with extensive local knowledge and industry experience, as well as notable success in sustainability strategy, and you have a market player that is starting to carve out its own future.

“Metso Outotec’s strategy is coherent and clear, and it will help us to become an industry-leading company in customer satisfaction, sustainability and financial performance,” offers Metso Outotec President and CEO, Pekka Vauramo.

Always innovating, Metso Outotec is busy with new products but many remain under wraps for now while final details are confirmed. “We have great plans,” smiles van Tonder who adds that he is not ready to talk about future product releases as they remain in development.

But Ntsele details more about a recently launched flotation product that will assist in driving efficiency at mining operations where fine mineral processing is vital.

“We have launched Concorde Cell™ flotation cell with the ability to recover very fine minerals. Most mines lose valuables through fine grinding and the technology is not good enough to recover at fine sizes, less than 30 microns. This new technology talks to sustainability as it is optimising output and recovery from your circuit.”

The company claims this new product can recover the unachievable ore value, setting a new benchmark in high intensity pneumatic flotation.

This is yet another innovation to strengthen the Metso Outotec portfolio. “We can touch the ore, all the way from the moment it is loaded to a truck, through until the point it is metal, with everything in between,” reminds van Tonder.

The Metso Outotec operation is fully customisable and the company is happy to tailor bespoke offerings for clients depending on location, mineral resource, scale, and intensity of task. “From full lifecycle contracts, maintenance and optimised operation, and – depending on customer needs – we can customise the solutions,” says van Tonder.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

Going forward, there is much strength, ambition, and innovation within this business. The way the company staved off major disruption through the pandemic is testament to its ability to be agile and make important decisions quickly, despite its status as a major international organisation.

“Our approach was to set our goals as if there was no pandemic. We didn’t budge or accept a slowdown because of Covid,” says van Tonder.

“However, when you set a goal and an obstacle comes up, you make a plan to get around it. There are a number of things we have done to ensure we can get out to our customers. We had challenges – traveling to see customers across the border was difficult thanks to the lockdowns. Now that we are free to travel, we are meeting our customers on site again, and it does make a difference. People still buy from people.”

He reminds that the safety of people is the most important bottom line within the company and stringent checks were put in place to ensure risks were mitigated. Office team members were asked to work from home before government guidance came in, and the same employees are now offered a hybrid model where work is split between home and office.

“We managed, in a good way, to make a difference and protect our people against potential exposure. We have taken all the benefits that we have learnt through the lockdown periods and we are using that to be even more efficient than before,” adds van Tonder.

But, even with a new way of working, the company’s drive to become closer to its customers and help them achieve their goals in a sustainable manner remains. Metso Outotec will continue to search for opportunities and relationships that build capacity for clients.

“We have identified areas of improvement in terms of coverage and closeness to our customers around specific products. We are growing into partnerships with third parties, either as distributors or agents, and we give them an area of focus to increase our footprint in front of the customer,” says Ntsele.

Without these deep relationships, Metso Outotec clients would struggle to perform in the safe and sustainable way that they do. This is a company building for the future through a Planet Positive strategy. With rivals yet to come close to the Metso Outotec ethos around sustainability, this is a company that will undoubtedly enjoy an industry-leading position as the mindset around mining and mineral processing shifts.