Finnish mining equipment maker Metso Outotec plans to develop a range of track-mounted crushers and screens under the existing Lokotrack name that will feature electric drives.

The electric Lokotrack range will be built on a platform that Metso Outotec has been developing since 2020, with a total R&D investment of €20 million (US$21.7 million), said the company.

Metso Outotec is currently entering the design phase of the first new products as the platform concept has now been developed, it said.

"The next generation Lokotrack range will address the needs of our crushing and screening customers by providing new easy-to-use diesel-electric equipment," comments Renaud Lapointe, Senior Vice President at Metso Outotec's Aggregates business area. "The possibility to run track-mounted machines from an integrated genset or to connect to an external power source lowers operational costs and allows access to renewable energy for our customers," he continues. 

Jarmo Vuorenpää, Director, New Lokotrack Offering, aggregates business area at Metso Outotec, added: "Using one common architecture throughout the range allows scalable solutions that can be seamlessly combined and adapted for different applications and capacities. Harmonized design together with advanced digital solutions enables our global service network to support the customers throughout the entire equipment lifecycle."

Mobile and electrified Lokotrack crushers could be of particular interest to greenfield underground mine projects, as Julius Mäkelä, vice president, Mid-Size and Mobile Crushers at Metso Outotec, noted in an interview with Mining Magazine in March.

"Automation is clearly coming and there are already some ideas involving loaders and crushers could be shared. And, of course, as you have seen from our competitors, that automating pulling machines, and loaders, have enormous benefits practically, so why not combine the theory between the technologies there. We just need to find a few customers who are ready to test the technology.