Engineering giant Weir Group moved to increase its presence in the mining and minerals market yesterday after tying up three new deals worth £7 million.
The firm has agreed an exclusive design, manufacture and distribution deal with KHD giving it direct control over its high-pressure grinding rolls equipment, which is used in the processing of minerals. Weir has acted as KHD’s agent for the product for the past three years and order intake has averaged €25m (£16.4m) per annum during that period.
The firm has also made its first entry into the cone crushers market after securing a partnership with Minyu Machinery Corporation of Taiwan.
Weir has entered into an agreement to sell Minyu’s existing range of cone crushers to Weir Minerals’ customers.
The two parties have also formed a joint venture, majority-owned and operated by Weir, to develop higher-capacity machines suitable for use in larger mine site applications.
The company said it had also completed the acquisition of Aspir, a small Australian-based centrifuge producer.
Weir said the combined value of the three agreements was £7m but said it expected to invested a similar amount again over the next three years to expand upon new opportunities which the new deals open up.