HELSINKI, Finland, June 26, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Metso Minerals will supply mining equipment worth over EUR 50 million to Mineracao Serra do Sossego S.A. in Northern Brazil for the largest copper mine ever in the country. The total investment in the mine is more than EUR 400 million, and the mine will start operations in 2004.
Metso Minerals' delivery, which will take place during 2003, will include crushers, grinding mills, and various types of feeders,screens, filters, pumps and conveyors. The contract also includes assembly and start-up supervision as well as technical assistance. Metso Minerals will open a customer service center in the area for spare parts and maintenance service.
Brazil is a major producer of iron ore. Recently, several projects to mine other ores and minerals have been introduced, and consequently, new copper deposits have been found, the Sossego mine in the state of Para being one of them. The annual production of the mine projected to 150 000 tons of copper concentrate and 40,000 oz of gold. The customer is a subsidiary to Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD), one of the largest mining companies in the world. The company produces iron ore, bauxite, gold and manganese among other ores.
Metso Minerals has several manufacturing, engineering, sales and service units in Brazil. It manufactures in Brazil, for example, crushers, portable crushing plants, screens and wear parts. Metso employs some 1,000 people in the country.
Metso Corporation (NYSE:MX)is a global supplier of process industry machinery and systems, as well as know-how and aftermarket and services. The corporation's core businesses are fiber and paper technology (Metso Paper), rock and mineral processing (Metso Minerals) and automation and control technology (Metso Automation). In 2001, the net sales of Metso Corporation were EUR 4.3 billion and the personnel totaled approximately 30,000. Metso Corporation is listed on the Helsinki and New York Stock Exchanges.