Metso Strengthens Mineralogy Capabilities With New Investment

Metso is reinforcing its mineralogy capabilities at its Research Center in Pori, Finland, with a new investment designed to help customers move faster and make better-informed decisions across the full lifecycle of their minerals processing projects from early phase project design through to operational optimization.

The enhanced capabilities strengthen Metso's ability to deliver high-quality mineralogical data more rapidly, enabling faster execution and better-informed flowsheet development, according to the company.

The investment includes the installation of a TESCAN TIMA automated mineralogy analyzer. This advanced equipment integrates high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) imaging with multidetector elemental analysis into a single, fully automated system.

"The new equipment complements Metso's long-established expertise in mineralogical analysis and significantly increases analysis speed while enabling higher sample capacity," the company said. "This enables Metso's specialists to generate quantitative data on ore characteristics, mineral associations and metallurgical behavior across a higher volume of samples."

Detailed Mineralogical Insight to Support Decision-Making

"In minerals processing and metals refining, the mineralogy of the feed material dictates the outcome of the entire process," said Tero Kravtsov, senior mineralogist of Metso. "By applying detailed mineralogical analysis to feed, concentrates, tailings and other process products across mineral processing, hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy, the foundation for selecting the appropriate metallurgical route at an early stage can be provided."

"This investment strengthens the mineralogy expertise we have applied for decades," added Matthew Hicks, director, minerals processing of Metso. "By expanding our analytical capacity and shortening turnaround times, the experts at the Pori Research Center can deliver clear, actionable mineralogical data for a greater number of cases. Such clarity directly reduces project risk and improves resource efficiency across the entire process."

Leading Research Capabilities for Mining Industry

Metso's unique capabilities, spanning advanced mineralogy, laboratory testing, pilot work and flowsheet development, allow mining customers to improve recoveries, optimize resource efficiency and develop more robust and sustainable processing routes across the full lifecycle of operations, according to the company.

Metso Research Center in Pori is one of Metso's hubs for research and product development and is focused on mineral processing, hydrometallurgy, battery material process solutions and smelting technologies.

"Strengthening our mineralogy capabilities in Pori further enhances our ability to support early engagement with customers and improve efficiency," said Rodrigo Grau, vice president, Minerals Processing Solutions of Metso. "This is key to promoting integrated Metso flowsheets built around our core products and technologies. Mineralogical characterization is essential in defining the optimal metallurgical route."