New York August 17 2024: Metso announced on Wednesday it has signed an agreement with Reko Diq Mining for key process equipment deliveries to the greenfield copper-gold project located in the province of Balochistan in Pakistan.
The project, jointly owned by Barrick Gold (NYSE: GOLD) (TSX: ABX) and Pakistan, is one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world.
The value of the Metso equipment packages under the framework agreement is €200 million. The value of the first orders, consisting of crushing and grinding equipment, is close to €100 million in total, and they are booked in the Minerals segment’s 2024 third-quarter order intake.
Metso’s scope of delivery for the crushing and grinding circuits includes Superior 6089 MKIII gyratory crushers and Nordberg MP1250 cone crushers, as well as Premier ball mills with 51MW installed power, equipped with gearless mill drive technology and Metso’s failsafe polymer hydrostatic shoe bearing systems, significantly increasing reliability and reducing maintenance costs. The mills will be equipped with Metso’s metallic mill linings.
Orders for the TankCell mechanical flotation cells and high-intensity Concorde Cell units, HRT thickeners, Vertimill and HIGmill regrind mills, mill reline equipment, concentrate filters, and automation equipment included in the frame agreement are expected to be signed and booked in the Minerals segment’s order intake later in 2024 and 2025.
“Reko Diq will substantially expand Barrick’s strategically significant copper and gold portfolios and benefit all its Pakistani stakeholders for generations to come. We are pleased to partner with Metso in this project where sustainable concentrate processing is one of the key drivers for plant design and operation,” Barrick CEO Mark Bristow said in a news release.
It is anticipated that Reko Diq will have a mine life of approximately 40 years as a truck-and-shovel open pit operation, with construction expected in two phases and providing a combined processing capacity of circa 90 million tonnes per annum. The first production is targeted for 2028.
