Weir Group PLC (LSE:WEIR) said it teamed up with Swiss Tower Mills Minerals AG (STM) to accelerate sustainable mining.
Under the deal, the mining technology company will market STM's innovative vertical stirred grinding mills for coarse grinding applications worldwide, providing customers with substantial improvements in throughput and energy efficiency, the company said in a statement.
It said STM's vertical stirred grinding technology is well proven for energy efficient comminution in the mining market with more than 80 units currently operating in the hard rock mineral processing industry across the globe.
Comminution, which involves the crushing and grinding of material to create fine particles, is one of the most energy intensive parts of the mine, accounting for 25% of the final energy consumption of an average mine site.
Weir said it is already a leader in comminution technologies, such as Enduron high pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs), which are driving down energy consumption by around 40% for customers.
"Weir and STM share the same vision of enabling primary resource providers to produce resources in the most sustainable manner. This is a perfect match of best-in-class technology providers,” said Weir Minerals divisional president Ricardo Garib.
“Integrating STM mills with Weir's comminution products, which includes Enduron high pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs) and Enduron screens, will improve throughput and help bring substantial reductions in carbon emissions. This is a real win-win."
STM has already supplied two vertical test mills to the Weir Minerals HPGR test facility in Venlo in the Netherlands.
In a separate statement, Weir announced that it will hold a Capital Markets Event today via a live webcast, where the topic will be ‘Growth and Performance Excellence’.
The event will spotlight the company’s initiatives to help it reach its targets of mid to high single digit percentage revenue growth and growth in operating margins above 17% beyond 2023.
Weir said market conditions and guidance are unchanged since the company announced its half-year results on 28 July.