WORLD PROSPECTS
Metso and compact crushing in Brazil
Brazil is a hugely important market for the mineral processing majors, including Metso. IM Editorial Director Paul Moore had the chance to talk with Ricardo Takeda, Sales Director – Minerals for Brazil at Metso during the Exposibram 2025 event in Salvador; with one focus being compact iron ore crushing.
One important aspect of iron ore mining innovation in Brazil is processing harder and more compact itabirite ores. Metso recently announced that customer Minerita had contracted all the major comminution equipment for its Compactos iron ore greenfield project, located in Itatiaiuçu, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The aim with the new plant is to produce 4.5 Mt / y of high-grade premium pellet feed, in two phases. The more energy-efficient comminution circuit of the first phase will process compact itabirite iron ore and will consist of a Nordberg ® C160™ jaw crusher, followed by a Nordberg ® MP800 cone crusher, an HRCe™ HPGR and a 3.9 MW Select™ ball mill for primary grinding. The regrinding will be carried out with two VTM4500 Vertimill ® mills. The order for the Vertimill ® mills was registered in the third quarter of 2025 from the Minerals area, and the other equipment in the first quarter of 2025.
A similar compact crushing plant has already been supplied to ArcelorMittal’ s Serra Azul iron ore mine which was commissioned this year; it also handles compact itabirite ores as the friable material has been mined out. It includes three energy-efficient secondary comminution, with three Metso VTM4500 Vertimill ® mills in combination with two HRCe™ HPGRs, which are all preceded by a Superior™ MKIII 5065 primary crusher. The plant also uses Metso Nordberg ® HP400™ cone crushers plus large banana and horizontal screens.
The plant will feed a new pellet production plant with high-quality ore that will integrate into ArcelorMittal’ s global steel production network, with contracted supply to the group’ s steel plants located in Mexico.
However, the largest compact crushing operation ever built in Brazil is underway at Vale’ s S11D mine – this will have a huge 50 Mt / y capacity and is costing Vale some US $ 755 million to build. In its recent September 2025 Minas Gerais analyst tour, Vale stated that this is still on track to open in Q2 2026. It will handle some run of mine ore, but will mainly process huge waste piles of ore containing hard jaspilite, which has always represented a challenge at S11D. Jaspilite is a hard rock from the Carajas formation containing bands of jasper and iron minerals with 42 % average Fe and 36 % average SiO 2. It is challenging due to its high abrasiveness and compressive strength.
According to Vale, it is a 60 m high structure with 84 ° inclination, with more than 5,000 t of steel applied. It has a deep foundation with 583 piles and has involved a huge logistical exercise with more than 17,000 trucks received, with peaks of 100 / day. The project uses an adapted version of Maccaferri’ s Green Terramesh ®, with UV microgrid and a structure resistant to abrasion, salt spray, sun exposure and oxidation. All of this is designed to withstand intense traffic of mining trucks and also ensure safety and durability— with an estimated geogrid lifespan of 120 years.
The Vale Q3 2025 production report says that the compact crushing project has reached 83 % completion. Metso is the major equipment supplier to the project, including the primary gyratory and two large apron feeders. Other companies involved include civil engineering firm Construtora Barbosa Mello; MCA Auditoria e Gerenciamento, which specialises in consulting, auditing and project management and construction; engineering services group AtkinsRéalis; and project management company Verum Partners.
Takeda told IM:“ Jaspilite in the past has had to be considered as a sterile material and has been stockpiled as it could not be processed efficiently. Vale invested significant resources to come up with a solution for jaspilite. Thanks to the new compact crushing plant, it will now be processed in parallel with the main run of mine material which will mainly use the existing plant. The jaspilite ore will be crushed and classified and then blended with high grade ROM ore to create a new product. This means also avoiding all the costs previously incurred to transport and dump the jaspilite material.”
Metso has supplied its largest ever gyratory delivered in Brazil for the compact crushing plant – a Superior™ MKIII 70-89 – it is capable of 15,000 t / h and has a 1,780 mm feed opening, power rating of 900 kW and weighs 430 t. It is the same diameter as the MKIII 60-89 but taller. Metso has also supplied the outstanding largest ever apron feeders delivered in Brazil, that feeds the crusher plus a second apron feeder for the discharge, plus a series of banana screens.
Also at S11D, upstream, for ROM ore, Metso has also supplied three large FIT™ stations which act as secondary crushing buffers between the three main truckless primary mining systems that were originally supplied by Sandvik Mining Systems but are now maintained by FLS after its acquisition of the majority of Sandvik Mining Systems in 2017.
Takeda:“ The three FIT™ stations are effectively very large modularised secondary crushing plants to enable a better control of the particle size distribution of the material coming from the primary mining system ABON sizers. These plants sit between the three mining systems and the main long distance overland conveyor. They have recently been commissioned and are running – each station contains one large Metso GP500 Nordberg ® cone. With our FIT™ station we were selected as we could engineer a very modularised and compact solution to allow their positioning in a relatively tight space. Our cones are able to supply a very consistent particle size to the conveyor whereas in the past there has often been larger slabs of material reaching the conveyor which can be more difficult to handle.”
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8 International Mining | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2025