Market Trends of Mineral Processing Equipment Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the Mineral Processing Equipment Market according to our research experts:
Iron and Bauxite poised to be the fastest-growing segments
Iron is critically essential to the construction and other manufacturing industry. In the construction industry, 90% of all refined metal is accounted for by steel. Although, falling ore grades and high production costs are hindering production in some parts of the world.
In 2021, the total volume of usable iron ore produced was around 2.6 billion metric tons across the globe. Australia is one of the leading iron ore producing countries in 2021, the country produced around 900 million metric tons of usable iron ore in Australia. In 2020, global iron ore production increased from 3.3 billion tonnes. Also, crude iron production has remained stagnant for over a decade but hasn't seen a slowdown in demand.
Iron production in Brazil and Australia has seen a massive increase, with companies investing in new mines to replace older ones. For instance, BHP approved 4 billion USD for iron ore-related projects in Western Australia, indicating growth for iron ore processing equipment.
- In August 2022, NMDC Ltd announced achieving 46 million tonnes of Iron ore production by the end of the year 2022 in India.
Bauxite is a key component in the production of aluminum. In 2021, India, Brazil, China, Australia, and Guinea produced around 300 million tons and were all seeing an increase in bauxite production since 2012. Surprisingly, Guinea was the fourth-highest producer of aluminum. Other West African countries had seen a rise in bauxite production almost double from 30.8 million tons in 2019 to 89.5 million metric tons in 2021. The increasing demand for these metals will see a rising mining activity which will help demand for new mineral processing equipment.
Demand for Sustainable Equipment is Driving Market Growth in Europe
Demand for copper is predicted to increase by 2.6% annually until 2027, while lithium by almost 650% by 2027. Even rare earth metals will see a growth of 3.5% per annum, rising to around 150,000 metric tons in 2021. But various governments like the EU Parliament and the Council have started legislating targeted CO2 emissions post-2019. The parliament had earlier proposed a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions between 2020 - 2025. But now parliament has voted to increase the reduction rate to 40%. Also, stringent restrictions have been put under this new law.
Due to falling ore grades at the surface level, the past mining of equipment is not workable with current climatic disruptions and government regulation. This gives rise to sophisticated analytical techniques and equipment. New technologies are being explored to be even able to detect more significant concentrations of minerals in a small surface area. These technologies include laser fluorescence scanning and portable X-ray fluorescence that can determine levels of minerals and allow differential leaching techniques used for exploration.
The rise in production of iron ore across the region is likely to increase the demand for mineral processing equipment during the forecast period. For instance, In 2021, The iron ore production in Sweden is around 14.4 million tonnes.
However, the mining industry had been under pressure with falling commodity prices and declining cash flow. As a result, conducting a pre-feasibility study to determine the theoretical economics of the ore deposit has become even more critical. This is being achieved with breakthrough research with the help of technological innovations that are transforming the essential aspects of mining. All these developments are expected to help demand mining processing equipment.
