Industrial machinery and engineering company Metso has signed an agreement with the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) covering the engineering and delivery of process technology for GTK Mintec’s new pilot plant in Outokumpu, Finland.

The new pilot plant for minerals processing and circular economy materials will significantly expand GTK’s research and service offering for the mining and minerals industry. 

The process lines have been designed in close collaboration with GTK experts, while Metso will be responsible for the plant delivery. The value of the order, which is not disclosed, is booked in the Minerals segment’s 2026 third-quarter orders received.  

GTK Mintec aims to have the new pilot plant operational by the end of 2028, which, once completed, will strengthen GTK Mintec’s position as an internationally recognised developer of circular economy and minerals processing solutions. 

“GTK Mintec is one of our strategic spearheads. The minerals processing research services play an important role in advancing the circular economy. The renewal work is progressing well, and this agreement represents a significant step forward in strengthening the services offered to industry,” says GTK director-general Saku Vuori. 

"Metso and GTK have collaborated for decades in the research and development of minerals processing solutions. The new GTK Mintec pilot plant in Outokumpu builds on this long-standing partnership and provides an excellent environment for developing and testing minerals processing and circular economy solutions that support the industry's goals of improving resource and energy efficiency," adds Metso minerals president Piia Karhu.

The new pilot plant will provide a modern environment for pilot-scale testing and optimisation of process technologies.

In addition to conventional beneficiation technologies, the facility will enable the development and testing of energy-efficient solutions that reduce water and chemical consumption. These include high pressure grinding rolls, ore sorting, primary grinding circuits, fine grinding technologies, and both coarse and fine flotation applications.

The pilot plant will also include a broad range of crushing, classification, grinding, flotation and physical separation technologies for material upgrading and recovery. 

Further, the pilot plant will enable the piloting of solutions for side-stream processing, dry stacking of tailings, and closed-loop process water circuits utilising advanced water treatment and filtration technologies. 

Two process lines with different capacities will be constructed at the facility, Metso confirms, explaining that this will enable both larger-scale plant testing and smaller-scale testwork, such as studies conducted using drill core samples during the early stages of mining projects. 

The new pilot plant will also feature an advanced digitalisation and automation environment in which process data is automatically collected from equipment and measurement points throughout the plant. This will accelerate the analysis of test results, improve data quality, and provide customers with more comprehensive reporting capabilities.