Why the Machines That Move Rock Are Busy Again
After several quiet years, large material handling and mining infrastructure projects are moving forward again in the Nordics. Projects that sat stalled for years are being signed, funded, and built. That shift is worth paying attention to, and it’s worth understanding why it’s happening now.
Many key commodity prices are elevated, although the drivers vary by commodity. For example, copper is supported by electrification, grid investment and more recently the AI data centre build-out. Iron ore and steel markets have also been affected by shifting trade flows, logistics and policy uncertainty, and fragile European steel demand. Rare earths are rising with the green energy transition, defence and high-tech supply chains.
Tariffs, trade tensions and repeated shipping disruptions in recent years have made companies and governments more cautious about relying on distant supply chains. Europe seems to shift toward producing more of what it needs domestically, and similar thinking is showing up elsewhere too.
Traceability is playing into this too, and it’s contributing to our Nordic markets. Businesses face growing pressure to report exactly where their raw materials came from, and that’s tilting demand toward sourcing closer to home.
Even when the investment logic is clear, these projects do not move overnight. Permitting, financing, engineering and construction capacity all shape the pace. That is why suppliers who can support customers early, before final investment decisions are made, have a stronger role to play. The EU Critical Raw Materials Act is also intended to speed up permitting and improve access to financing support for strategic projects.
But this is not only a price story. It is also a security-of-supply story. Critical minerals, industrial raw materials and bulk handling capacity are now tied to energy transition, defence, digital infrastructure and regional resilience. That is changing how governments and industrial companies think about mining and material handling investments. The question is no longer only who can supply the lowest-cost equipment, but who can help keep critical flows moving reliably over decades.
The wave of investments has also hit ROXON’s shores. A few months ago, we closed one of the biggest local contracts in years in the Nordics. Around the same time, we also delivered a ship loader to Australia, built to load urea for fertiliser production for the local market. A different commodity and a different continent, illustrating that the same pattern is unfolding well beyond the Nordics.
What’s actually different this time
The renewed activity is the visible part. What’s changed underneath it matters just as much, and it shows up in what leading companies in the field are asking for.
Customers are increasingly interested in optimising lifetime costs rather than buying the cheapest equipment available. Demand is shifting towards components built to last longer, which is not only good for the wallet but also for the resource needs.
AI is unlikely to be shovelling ore anytime soon. The more relevant shift is duller but real: customers asking for reliable equipment that can improve the efficiency of their material handling. That’s plenty.
Where this leaves us
For a supplier like ROXON, this changes the conversation. The customer is not only buying conveyors, loaders or components. They are buying uptime, predictable maintenance and lower lifetime cost in operations where downtime is expensive.
We are moving from delivering equipment once toward staying involved as a long-term partner.
As installed bases grow and customers push equipment harder, technologies that support service and uptime become less of an add-on and more of a core part of the value proposition.
How long this cycle lasts is impossible to predict. What matters regardless of the phase the market is in next is staying close to customers, with better data, quality products and stronger service behind it.
Martin Evers,
Regional Director, EMENA
ROXON | NEPEAN
