KEY POINTS
- Metso will supply key processing technology for Develop Global’s Yitirrti copper-zinc-silver project in Western Australia.
- The package spans crushers, flotation cells, thickeners, regrind mills and slurry analysers for the concentrator.
- The Pilbara plant will process about 1.5 million tonnes a year as the project nears pre-production.
Metso has won an order from GR Engineering Services to supply key processing technology for Develop Global’s Yitirrti copper-zinc-silver project in Western Australia.
The order value stays undisclosed, and Metso booked it in its Minerals segment’s second-quarter orders. Moreover, the project, formerly known as Sulphur Springs, sits in the Pilbara region and moves toward pre-production.
What Metso will supply
According to Metso, its scope covers the design, manufacture, testing and delivery of process technology for a concentrator that handles copper and zinc. Furthermore, the package includes Nordberg C Series jaw crushers and HP450e cone crushers, an apron feeder, TankCell flotation cells, thickeners, Stirred Media Detritor regrind mills and slurry analysers, spanning much of the flowsheet.
Still, the tie-up runs beyond hardware. Metso’s Asia Pacific minerals vice-president, David Tulloch, said the company would draw on its nearby Karratha Service Centre to provide aftermarket support once the plant starts up. Consequently, the supplier framed the deal as proof of its integrated offering, adding that its comminution, flotation and dewatering technologies aim to lift recovery and sharpen resource efficiency.
A high-grade Pilbara development
Yitirrti is a high-grade copper-zinc-silver deposit, and its processing plant will handle about 1.5 million tonnes of ore a year. Therefore, Develop Global is treating the concentrator as central to bringing the mine online, and it has begun construction ahead of production.
Develop’s group principal metallurgist, Kurt Tiedemann, said getting the plant right is critical as the build advances, and he pointed to Metso’s proven technology, process expertise and local support as reasons for the choice. In addition, he cast Yitirrti as a key development for the company, and he said the equipment package gave it confidence as it brings the project into operation in Western Australia.
