Metso has won a major contract from Southern Peru Copper Corporation to supply copper solvent extraction and electrowinning technology for the Tia Maria project in Peru, extending its role in one of the region’s most closely watched greenfield copper developments.
The €100 million order covers solvent extraction and electrowinning plants for a site designed to produce 120,000 tonnes a year of LME grade A copper cathodes. Metso said its scope includes Dual Media Filters, a robotic cathode stripping machine, an acid mist capture system, site advisory services, and commissioning and start-up spare parts. Basic engineering has already been completed, which suggests the package is moving beyond a conceptual stage and deeper into delivery.
The award lands at a time when copper project economics are being reassessed against long-term demand growth in electrification, grid expansion, transport, and digital infrastructure. The International Energy Agency said last year that copper demand is projected to grow by around 30% by 2040, underlining why new mine and refining capacity remains strategically important even as capital discipline across mining has tightened.
Southern Copper has previously said Tia Maria carried an estimated capital budget of $1.8 billion and was 24% complete at the end of 2025, with operations expected to begin in 2027. Against that backdrop, Metso’s contract is not simply another equipment order. It is a concrete sign that downstream processing infrastructure is being locked in for a project that sits inside a much broader race to bring additional copper units to market.
Eduardo Nilo, president for South America at Metso, said the company’s “highly experienced teams will assist in this project”. That local service angle matters. South American copper investment has become as much about execution, commissioning, and lifecycle support as it is about process flowsheets, particularly on projects where schedule slippage can quickly become expensive. For Metso, the Tia Maria deal adds another sizeable reference point to a copper refining portfolio it has been building since the 1990s.
