HIGH PROFILE
An Optirok installation at a quarry in Brazil
Metso’ s primary crushing progression
While based on fundamental technologies that remain unchanged – there is room for optimisation and improvement in primary crushing equipment – and Metso just launched three new solutions
Metso recently strengthened its prominent position as a crushing solutions supplier to mining with the launch of three new primary crushers – Metso Primarok™, a next generation in its leading primary gyratory offering; Metso Optirok™, an evolution of the primary jaw crusher; and Metso Durarok™ which brings large sizers into the mix. To get more insight into the three options, IM Editorial Director Paul Moore talked in-depth to Vinicius Vilela, Vice President, Mining Crushers, at Metso.
Q Metso is already a leading global supplier of primary gyratory and jaw crushers to mining – why did you feel the market needed a new set of solutions based on the same fundamental technology?
Yes, you are correct, we have already a global and leading range of gyratories for large capacities, jaw crushers covering smaller to mid range capacities, and for softer rock, we have the Nordberg ® NP impactors. But this new range is a new approach – it is actually our most significant primary crusher launch in many years; it’ s not just a repackaging or a rebranding. We have put a lot of development into these new solutions. And it is both in response to what we are hearing from customers, but also how the industry is evolving. With primary crushers today, mines are expected to deliver more tonnes, with less downtime under higher safety expectations, and often in smaller footprints and tighter capital constraints. That’ s the feedback that we get across the board from owner operators, EPCMs and maintenance teams. Instead of trying to do a one-fit-all solution, we
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Vinicius Vilela, Vice President, Mining Crushers, Metso took a step back and recognised that today’ s requirements involve a broad spectrum of ores, layouts, and other constraints that will obviously require different answers. So we decided to develop a more targeted portfolio where we have one optimised solution for each specific set of conditions. But all of them are designed around the same core outcomes – performance, availability, safety and low total cost of ownership.
Q Is it not true that in big mining, semimobile gyratory stations represent the vast majority of the market and especially when you look at around 5,000 t / h and above?
Yes, gyratory crushers continue to be the dominant solution in large capacity applications, especially with hard rock, no question. They are well proven, and they remain the reference point for those large-scale applications – and often as semi-mobile stations as you say. However, we’ ve been seeing that there’ s also a gradual increase in consideration of other technologies where they make sense. For example, sizer solutions like our Durarok can deliver a lower overall capital cost, particularly in overburden applications, where the economics are very sensitive to the upfront investment. Also, when you are dealing with materials that have a high clay content, sizer solutions are quite often also the right technical answer given the operational conditions. At the same time, we see a gap in the intermediate capacity range, roughly 1,200 to 2,500 t / h, where you would typically use a conventional jaw crusher, but you are getting to the limit of its capability but the capacity requirement is not enough to justify a gyratory investment. So, there we see a great fit for the Optirok. So, gyratories remain dominant at the top end of the capacity range, but it’ s more about matching a good solution for a specific application.
Q If we talk about sizers first – which are the comminution method for Durarok, am I right in thinking Metso did not have a sizer in its range? Are you working with a third party or have you developed this in-house?
Correct, we didn’ t have a sizer in our product line, but sizers are not new to Metso; we have been involved in supplying sizer-based solutions for several years, particularly in mobile applications, such as in our larger Lokotrack ® units – in this cases the sizers have been sources from a third party, including a successful partnership with Komatsu which supplied us with their sizers. So, we built up a very solid application knowledge and integration experience around it. But we recognised that there was a growing need in the market for sizers that could go beyond the traditional softer rock applications and handle harder, more competent materials, and that gap was not fully addressed by our existing offer, so we decided to invest in and develop our own sizer range in Durarok. We built our in-house capability for development and testing of the technology based on our fundamental understanding of hard rock crushing; and keeping in within Metso means we have full control over design performance and how these machines integrate into our existing platforms and solutions.
Q We talked about capacities – can you give some idea of the range for each of the three primary crushing options?
The Durarok capacity will range from roughly 1,500-2,000 t / h up to about 6,000 t / h depending on the material. With our new Primarok range, we have developed an even larger model, the 61131, that goes up to 20,000 t / h – taking us well beyond our current largest 17,000 t / h Superior™ MKIII 60- 110 solution; this will be the largest primary crusher in the world available today. For the Optirok, the range is from 1,200 to 2,500 t / h.
Q To what extent have the three new crushing solutions been trialled and tested in real operations?
With the sizers, we actually started this development effort quite a number of years ago. Then over time, we built prototypes and we have tested those in very different
International Mining | JULY 2026