Crane for copper procesing

Swedish metals company Boliden has placed an order with Konecranes for a 50t process crane. The crane will be delivered in February 2016 to Boliden Harjavalta’s smelter in Harjavalta, Finland.

The crane will be installed in the copper converter hall where it will replace an old crane. The converter hall crane is used continuously in three shifts (24/7) for applications such as transferring molten copper, and is, therefore, important in the production process.  


“This is an important order for us,” says Juha Lehtonen, product marketing manager of Konecranes. “It includes several smart features, which improve the customer’s processes. For example, by pushing a single button, the Target Positioning system brings the load to a predefined target position. This reduces the operator’s manual crane operation and reduces work cycle time significantly.

“The Sway Control system limits load swing by controlling the bridge and trolley acceleration and deceleration. This feature prevents damage to the load, the crane and the surrounding area.”



The metals industry continuously seeks improvements in its operations with the help of modern technology. The trend is present also in material handling – metal producers pay a lot of attention to factors like safety, availability and maintainability. With the correct design, automation and user-friendly products these factors are more easily achieved. Konecranes says that the order from Boliden supports Konecranes’ continuous development of products and services for this demanding industry segment.