IPCC
crushing plant for Codelco Radomiro Tomic announced in 2021. More recently, in 2024, Vale started operating two auxiliary crushing plants at its Serra Norte iron ore mine, which are part of the Carajás complex in Pará. With the activation, Vale adopted Metso’ s FIT™ Station technology, with processing plants assembled from pre-engineered modules, but customised and focused on improving performance. This project was reviewed in some detail in an online article from Metso.
The goal of the new plants is to re-crush oversize materials at the end of the process, reducing transportation distances within the mine. Before them, material with a particle size above the standard was transported by off-road trucks to other crushing units in the mine. In addition to transportation to other units, the operation was less sustainable due to the vehicles’ greenhouse gas emissions.
André Luis Pereira Araújo, Vale’ s Contract Manager, and Paulo Lemos, Vale’ s Engineering Manager, were responsible for installing the two new plants, with support from other divisions of the company. The design phase, for example, was managed by the mining company’ s engineering department, and the projects also included the participation of planning teams and teams from sensitive areas, such as quality and safety. Inspection was outsourced to Progen.
Araújo:“ We expect to increase production from this operation, in addition to presenting figures that prove the reduction in CO 2 emissions since we are no longer using trucks for transportation. In addition, this plant is cleaner and leaves no residue.” Araújo highlights that the two plants include re-crushing, screening and conveyor belt systems, the assembly of which required around 95 thousand hours of work and the presence of up to 11 different companies operating on the same site, in addition to Metso. The FIT TM concept combines the use of several modules, including traditional market equipment such as HP and C line crushers, to build complete crushing and re-crushing plants. Assembly using smaller and independent modules reduces design, engineering, manufacturing and field assembly time.
In addition to shortening transportation distances within the mine by re-crushing and directing the ore with a granulometry appropriate for the process, the two new plants should also guarantee performance and productivity for Vale, according to the project manager. Another aspect is the greater operational visibility of the newly installed units.
Otávio Sales da Silva, an analyst on Vale’ s operational readiness team, participated in the entire project, since his area is responsible for the implementation interface with the mining company’ s operational and maintenance areas.
According to the specialist, the compact and semi-mobile plants- which can be dismantled and activated on other mining fronts- are aligned with other existing initiatives of the mining company. Their acquisition was made possible by studies by Vale that proved the return on investment in replacing the rental model.“ The concept also allows for better service to the business units,” he summarises.
Silva recalls that the challenges required daily alignment and partnership. Araújo shares the same viewpoint. The two professionals cite as an example Metso’ s proactive relationship with the other 11 companies on the site, which facilitated the understanding of each company’ s role in the assembly. Another initiative highlighted was the transfer of Metso’ s knowledge to the teams that will actually operate and maintain the two FIT™ Stations.
He adds:“ Compact and semi-mobile plants can be dismantled and activated in other mining operations when necessary, saving time and cost.”
“ This project was a challenge for Metso and expands the FIT™ Station concept globally,” says Daniel Nagano, Metso’ s senior product manager.“ We were able to meet the customisation requirements requested by the customer and carry out a complex assembly that required over 95,000 hours of work without accidents,” he adds.
According to him, the worldwide experience in this model allows Metso to have up to 80 % of the engineering for a FIT™ Station ready, with the need for small customisations according to the customer.“ This allows us to scale from an annual delivery of one or two crushing and recrushing plants to a volume of 10 to 15 plants per year,” he concludes.
Back to other Metso IPCC relevant product lines and Berndt added that the Metso conveyor business is also ticking over nicely,“ plus we are seeing great use of our Metso Crush and Convey Resource Center, which allows immediate concise pricing and FS ready engineering inputs with our preordained modules, available for download. This all allowed us to generate an IPCC fast assessment tool together with Snowden Optiro that which provides Internal Rate of Return Heat Maps for IPCC applications to have early, fact based understanding of the viability in the technology trade-off, without requiring a purpose, lengthy and costly study. Known in minutes, not months.”
At the SME conference in Denver in February 2025, Markus Dammers, Metso Senior Manager, Mining Applications and Tarrant Elkington, EGM at Snowden Optiro presented on a‘ Rapid In-Pit Crushing and Conveying( IPCC) Decision Matrix’ that introduces a practical tool to evaluate IPCC solutions, supporting the industry’ s shift to sustainable mining and‘ green’ electrification.
The authors state:“ The adoption of energy-efficient IPCC technology has been unexpectedly uneven across the global mining industry, despite the critical need to reduce diesel dependence and enhance‘ green’ electrification. Hesitancy persists even as the industry faces increasing pressure to adopt sustainable practices. There exists a range of factors to consider when evaluating IPCC viability, especially in scenarios where multiple solutions are possible. However, the complexity of these evaluations often leaves mining operations uncertain about committing to an IPCC solution. To address this, developed is a practical matrix decision tool designed to rapidly model the potential business case for various IPCC scenarios, leveraging engineering fundamentals.”
The paper showcased informative plots that enable stakeholders to estimate key economic and environmental outcomes of IPCC implementation, tailored to their specific site conditions.“ By offering this tool, the paper contributes to the ongoing conversation on sustainable mining by equipping industry professionals with a means to make informed decisions about IPCC adoption within electrified mining operations.”
Compact bucketwheel excavators in an IPCC context
Bucketwheel excavators( BWEs) form a cornerstone of MCI’ s mining equipment portfolio. It states:“ They integrate extraction, loading, and conveying into a single, continuous process. Therefore, they are essential for mining unconsolidated and soft rock. Our BWEs handle soft to mediumhard rock with compressive strengths of up to 15-20 MPa. Furthermore, thanks to breakthroughs in milling technology, our BWEs also mine rock with a UCS of up to 40 MPa under favourable conditions. Consequently, these capabilities allow operators to adapt to various mining scenarios. Additionally, we provide a comprehensive range of BWEs to suit different operating conditions and open-pit mining plans.”
Ulrich Mentges, MCI Senior Mine Planning Engineer told IM:“ The use of a bucketwheel with conveyor in a mining context we believe is still a powerful partnership for bulk mining of not just coal or lignite but also overburden, some limestone, bauxite, phosphate and other mined materials like silica sands and clays, without any blasting. We use the bucketwheel to mine and loosen up the material, and with the conveyor is able to transport it as well,
12 International Mining | MAY 2025