Finnish company Outotec has been awarded a contract by Shangdong Province Metallurgical Engineering Co., known as SDM, for the delivery of process equipment to the Iron Concentrate Project Sangan in northeastern Iran. The Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization owns the Sangan mines and SDM is their engineering partner. The contract value is approximately €10 million and the order has been booked in Outotec's 2016 second quarter order intake.
Outotec's scope of work includes the design and delivery of thickeners and filter presses as well as related installation supervision and commissioning services including spare parts, the Finnish firm's website stated. The new iron processing plant will process annually 5 million tons of ore. The equipment will be delivered mostly during the second quarter of 2017.
“We are pleased to have been given the opportunity to deliver the main dewatering process equipment to the second phase of the Sangan Iron project. Our comprehensive portfolio of dewatering equipment enables us to tailor efficient and environmentally sound solutions and services for iron ore processing,” says Kalle Harkki, the head of Outotec’s Minerals Processing business unit.
Sangan region, dubbed “Iran’s Mineral Heaven”, is located in Khaf County of Khorasan Razavi Province about 300 kilometers southeast of Mashhad. It is home to a large number of mining projects. Gold, copper, lead, zinc and rare earths are among minerals discovered in the 12,000-square-kilometer zone so far, apart from iron ore.
Sangan Iron Ore Mine contains Iran’s largest and the world’s ninth largest iron ore reserves, estimated at about 1.2 billion tons. It has the capacity to produce 15 million tons of iron ore pellets and 17.5 million tons of concentrate annually.
The Espoo-based Outotec was founded in 2006 with the aim of providing technologies and services for the metal and mineral processing industries. The firm concentrates on producing machines and methods that facilitate the various stages of extractive metallurgy and mineral processing from ore through to pure metal or mineral, including the grinding and physical separation of ores and the smelting and leaching of base and precious metals.
The company also provides engineering and after-sales services for its products.
Outotec was previously a wholly owned business area of Outokumpu, having been established in the late 1940s, but it was spun off as a separate entity in June 2006 when the parent company decided to concentrate on its primary concern of stainless steel.
A listing on Helsinki Stock Exchange followed shortly afterwards and the company was promoted to the benchmark OMX Helsinki 25 as a result of the index’s February 2007 reclassification.
