The Finnish quarrying and mining plant manufacturer says the test centre's capabilities will be continuously developed with the goal of covering the full minerals value chain to support the mining industry worldwide.
“The volume of testing activity has increased significantly during the last year,” said Alan Boylston, director, process engineering at Metso Outotec. "With more space and operations in one place, we can do a lot more linked and pilot-scale testing."
The test centre in York specialises in standard and proprietary grinding tests in both laboratory and pilot scale, focusing also on grinding R&D in close co-operation with Metso Outotec's office in York.
Boylston said that the addition of pyro testing capabilities allows Metso Outotec to run calcining, induration, and drying tests too. The company is currently also building new capabilities for bench and laboratory scale thickening and filtration tests.
Test centre manager Mike Price said: “Accurate equipment selection with the appropriate process guarantees requires us to focus in on the details of each customer test programme. With the expanded equipment and automation capabilities, we can now do, for example, Planet Positive flowsheet tests with pilot-scale HRC800e high pressure grinding roll (HPGR) and follow immediately with Vertimill grinding and filtration testing. The test centre is equipped to find the most suitable and energy efficient solution for any project by performing comparative tests between Metso Outotec’s comprehensive range of fine grinding mills including Vertimill, HIGmill and Stirred Media Detritor (SMD) grinding mills."
Metso Outotec offers a portfolio of testing expertise and circuit simulation to the mining industry. The company says its recently introduced Geminex digital twin allows it to effectively simulate and test alternative operational scenarios and parameters based on accurate process models and real data. It adds that, combined with the extensive testing capabilities provided by the company’s global network of minerals test facilities, this allows mining customers to make sound investment decisions as well as use their resources in an optimal way.
The company's main test centres are in the US, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Finland, and Australia. In addition, Metso Outotec carries out individual tests at several other locations.
