Crushing for industrial minerals: How Komatsu powers cement, phosphate, and beyond

Industrial minerals are the unsung heroes of modern industry, forming the foundation of construction, agriculture, and manufacturing worldwide. With leading market indicators projecting a 4-6% increase in compound annual growth rate by 2035 for essential materials such as cement, phosphate, and limestone, operators face growing pressure to move more material, more efficiently, and with less downtime.

That’s where Komatsu’s feeder breakers, sizers, and reclaim feeders meet the demand for the material handling and crushing market. Known for durability and dependability in industrial minerals (salt, potash, gypsum, limestone) to harder rock applications (gold, nickel and copper), Komatsu’s crushing and feeding solutions are increasingly driving performance in industrial minerals operations, helping producers achieve higher throughput, lower maintenance costs, and higher mechanical availability.

Tackling the crushing challenges of industrial minerals

Industrial minerals mining often involves handling challenging materials - wet, sticky, or abrasive ores that can easily clog conventional crushers or cause excessive wear. Cement plants, phosphate processors, and fertilizer producers alike face similar pain points:

• High maintenance downtime due to equipment clogging or component wear
• Energy inefficiency from compression-based crushing methods
• Excessive fines generation that reduces usable output and increases waste
• Mobility and flexibility requirements for shifting production zones

Traditional compression crushers weren’t designed for these materials. To keep operations continuous and efficient, producers need a low-maintenance, energy-efficient crushing solution that’s built for the realities of industrial minerals, not just adapted from other sectors.

The Komatsu advantage: Crushing designed for performance

Komatsu’s crushing portfolio, including sizers, reclaim feeders, and feeder breakers, is specifically engineered for the challenges of industrial minerals processing. Each system is purpose-built to help industrial minerals producers optimize throughput while minimizing maintenance and downtime.

For example, Komatsu’s surface feeder breakers integrate crushing and feeding in one compact, skid-mounted system delivering continuous feed rates from 300 to 6,600 tons per hour with top sizes up to 5 feet (1.5 meters). Unlike compression-type crushers, these systems use tensile breakage to fracture material, dramatically reducing fines and lowering energy consumption since tensile strength is typically less than 10% of compressive strength. Their low-profile, ground-level installation reduces the need for heavy civil infrastructure, accelerating commissioning and cutting capital costs.

Matched Velocity Technology (MVT)

Komatsu sizers use pick technology, which breaks minerals in tension rather than compression. Because most minerals have a tensile strength less than 10% of their compressive strength, this method dramatically improves energy efficiency and component life while reducing fines generation.

Komatsu’s Matched Velocity Technology precisely matches roll speed to the material flow, enabling the system to maintain steady throughput and consistent size reduction without over-grinding. The self-cleaning teeth design allows properly sized material to discharge freely, preventing buildup and reducing downtime. This controlled, low-speed crushing action not only enhances energy efficiency, but also minimizes dust and fine particle production, a key advantage for cement plants focused on kiln performance, product uniformity, and cleaner operations. The result is smoother downstream processing and a higher percentage of saleable material.

Engineered for low maintenance

Energy-efficient helical bevel gear reducers, robust power transmission components, and automatic lubrication systems extend wear life and simplify maintenance. Innovations in pick technologies, sealed bearing design, and enhancements to key wear life components combat abrasive environments. Remote telematics and control solutions enhance preventative maintenance schedules and prevent downtime events. These systems are built to last with many Komatsu machines operating reliably for 20+ years in harsh mining environments.

Built for rapid deployment

Traditional crusher installations often face delays due to foundation work and permitting. Komatsu’s skid-mounted and semi-mobile crushing systems offer a plug-and-play solution, preassembled, factory-tested, and deployable without reinforced foundations.

This modular approach reduces civil construction bottlenecks, speeds up commissioning, and allows relocation as production needs evolve. This is ideal for cement quarries or aggregate pits facing frequent operational shifts.

Mobility and flexibility during production

Komatsu’s reclaim feeders and surface feeder breakers combine crushing and feeding functions in a single relocatable frame. That means faster setup, easier repositioning, and reduced infrastructure cost, helping operators reduce production downtime from weeks to hours when compared to static custom-engineered solutions. This maximizes production time, allowing cement and fertilizer producers to scale capacity with minimal disruption.

Real-world impact: Cement and phosphate applications

Komatsu’s crushing solutions are making a measurable difference across a range of industrial mineral operations, from cement quarries to phosphate mines.

Crushing for cement production

Cement manufacturing depends on consistent, continuous feeding of limestone, clay, and other raw materials into grinding mills. Komatsu sizers and feeders are helping cement producers around the world increase uptime and reduce maintenance costs through efficient material handling and sizing.

For leading global industrial minerals and cement producers, efficiency gains at the crushing stage can translate into significant improvements across the entire production chain. Komatsu’s standard sizer and feeder solutions are designed to integrate seamlessly with loaders, haul trucks, and downstream processing equipment, forming a unified, continuous material flow.

Crushing for agricultural, industrial, and chemical minerals

Across the industrial minerals landscape, Komatsu’s crushing solutions are proving their value across both Agricultural Industry Commodities (Phosphate, Potash, Polyhalite, Gypsum) and Industrial and Chemical Industry Commodities (Limestone, Salt, Trona, Bauxite, Kaolin Clay).

In phosphate mining, wet and sticky material is the norm, and one of the toughest challenges for crushing systems. Komatsu’s matched velocity approach helps minimize clogging while maximizing throughput, reducing energy use, and improving consistency for downstream processing.

Komatsu equipment is already delivering performance in key phosphate regions including Morocco, Senegal, and the U.S., supported by trusted local distributors, resulting in reliable operation, reduced downtime, and a lower total cost of ownership. Leveraging Komatsu’s vast network of local dealers provides fast responses to achieve the highest level of machine availability.

Local support with global strength

Unlike many competitors that sell directly with limited regional coverage, Komatsu provides a global reach with robust local support. Through its extensive dealer network, Komatsu crushing customers, from Africa to Latin America to North America, receive responsive service, available parts, and on-the-ground expertise.

Being part of the One Komatsu family means customers benefit from a full ecosystem of support, from installation to lifecycle management. Dealers are empowered with tools, training, and marketing resources to keep operations running, and help customers stay productive every day.

Part of a unified Komatsu solution

Komatu’s crushing solutions offer an integral bridge between mining and processing practices - seamlessly integrating with Komatsu’s line of wheel loaders, trucks, excavators and dozers to create a continuous crushing and feeding solution.

By combining crushing expertise with the rest of Komatsu’s mining and construction portfolio, customers gain more than equipment - they gain a partner focused on efficiency, safety, and productivity from pit to plant.

Conclusion: Powering industrial minerals for the future

With the industrial minerals sector poised for growth, reliable and efficient crushing solutions are more important than ever. Komatsu’s crushing portfolio brings the Company’s proven mining expertise to cement, phosphate, and other non-coal applications helping operations achieve higher productivity and lower cost per ton.

With its focus on energy-efficient tension crushing, modular skid-mounted design, and rapid availability of standardized models, Komatsu’s crushing portfolio offers producers measurable improvements in throughput, uptime, and total cost of ownership (TCO) proving that smarter crushing delivers sustainable productivity.

Whether you’re optimizing a cement plant, a phosphate mine, or a multi-material operation, Komatsu has the crushing solution to keep you moving continuously, efficiently, and confidently.