The full delivery of minerals processing equipment to the Qulong copper mine in China covers engineering, a full scope of advanced minerals processing equipment and advanced process control system including six crushers, eight semi-autogenous grinding mills and eight ball mills, eight stirred mills, four vertical plate pressure filters and 16 vibrating screens, as well as related services like installation, start-up, commissioning and technical direction.

The total value of the contracts has not been disclosed. Metso has already booked €51 million (US$56 million) in the June quarter of 2015 and the rest is expected to be booked during 2016-18.

The Qulong copper mine, which is owned and operated by Tibet Julong Copper, has a proven copper metal reserve of more than 7Mt. The in-the-pit mining and concentrator operations will be located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The mine will be built in three phases during 2016-2018. After its completion, the mine will be China's largest and most modern copper mine with an annual design production capacity of 560,000t of copper and a daily processing capacity of 300,000t of ore. The mine is estimated to be in production in 2018.

Mr Xiao, president of Tibet Julong Copper, said: “Qulong has huge ore reserves. Our target is to build the world's leading mine with sustainable mining and minerals processing operations using the most advanced equipment and processes in the world. We aim for high productivity and low cost in the most environmentally friendly way possible. The dedication Metso has shown to the project has been incredible and has assured us that Metso employees regard our aims as their own. We are impressed with Metso's industry-leading, energy-saving solutions and sustainable optimisation services. This, combined with Metso's strong local presence and knowledge, is the reason why we chose Metso to supply the equipment for the critical processes.”

Joao Colagrossi, president, minerals capital business area at Metso, commented: “We are very proud to be the supplier of key comminution and process equipment for this unique project. We have a track record of delivering what we promise to our customers and we have excellent project management capabilities to execute projects for logistically difficult high altitude locations. During the process of winning this order we have yet again been able to demonstrate our core values of customer centricity and teamwork.”