inside mining nov/dec 2012

MEDIA

Highly commended 2011 PICA Cover of the Year - B2B Publishing

www.miningne.ws

Chairman of RSV Group, Hennie Read, on bridging the generation and skills divide P10

ISSN 1999-8872 • R35.00 (incl. VAT) • Vol. 5 • No. 11 • November/December 2012

FERROUS AND NON-FERROUS

METALSTapping into the

untapped

ALUMINIUM Ensuring effective

downstream beneficiation

ENGINEERING AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Rising to new levels

T H E K N O W L E D G E Y O U N E E D F R O M T H E I N D U S T R Y E X P E R T S

iningHOT SEAT

A diversified African project leader

DRA

The Heart of Your Process

The ABS submersible dewatering pump XJ/XJS for drainage or sludge is made for the real world. Its electronic intelligence saves energy, reduces wear and allows pump condition to be checked without disassembly. Combined with the pump’s stable operation, long life and high port-ability, it makes the pump ideal for mines and construction sites.

Built-in intelligence means:• Reduced energy consumption

and wear• Correct motor rotation every time• Motor protection• No control panels required

smartestpumpTheworld’s dewatering

AquaTronic• Ensurescorrectmotor

rotation,irrespectiveofpowerconnection

• AllowspumpconditiontobecheckedviaUSBlink

AquaPlug• Pumpcontroland

monitoring–stopsthepumpwhensnoring

• Providesalarmsformotoroverheatingorpowerfailure

• Indicateswhenserviceisneeded

Sulzer Pumps www.sulzer.com

Tel: 0861 77 22 77email: [email protected]

Visit www.MadeForTheRealWorld.com or scan the QR code to see how you can benefit!

1Ins ide Mining 11.12 /2012

ON THE COVERMEDIA

Highly commended 2011 PICA Cover of the Year - B2B Publishing

www.miningne.ws

Chairman of RSV Group,

Hennie Read, on

bridging the generation and

skills divide P10

ISSN 1999-8872 • R35.00 (incl. VAT) • Vol. 5 • No. 11 • November/December 2012

FERROUS AND NON-FERROUS

METALSTapping into the

untapped

ALUMINIUM Ensuring effective

downstream beneficiation

ENGINEERING AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Rising to new levels

T H E K N O W L E D G E Y O U N E E D F R O M T H E I N D U S T R Y E X P E R T SF R O M T H E I N D U S T R Y E X P E R T S F R O M T H E I N D U S T R Y E X P E R T S

HOT SEAT

A diversified African project leader

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

T H E K N O W L E D G E Y O U N E E D F R O M T H E I N D U S T R Y E X P E R T S

iningN O W L E D G E Y O U N E E D F R O

November/December 2012November/December 2012CONTENTSThe DRA Group’s recent expansion into Africa underscores its decision to diversify its offering. The continent is seeing a particular resurgence in gold, copper and uranium and as existing mining operations are upgraded and new mines are developed, DRA is well positioned to benefi t from this new “rush” P6P6

16

10

36

EDITOR’S COMMENT33 The death of a mining town

MINING NEWS44 The top mining stories headlining this month

HOT SEAT1010 Bridging the generation and skills divide in

engineering consulting

FERROUS AND NON-FERROUS METALS1616 Baobab Resources – Unlocking Mozambique’s iron

and steel potential

2020 Ironveld – Going for pig iron in the Bushveld

BOTSWANA FOCUS: PART 22424 Botswana – The feeding has started

ENGINEERING AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT2626 Ingwenya takes BEE ownership to 45%

2828 Steval Engineering – SMPP contractor extends its horizons

3131 Consulmet – The LSTK leader

BENEFICIATION3232 Ensuring effective downstream benefi ciation

in aluminium

3636 Mintek – SA’s fi rst commercial pressure leaching plant

TECHNICAL COMMENTARY3838 How to become a low-cost producer

MINING EQUIPMENT4242 Sandvik Mining fi nds its perfect match in the

Northern Cape

4444 Pilot Crushtec appointed as Sandvik’s African distributor

ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION4646 Sulzer Pumps launches intelligent dewatering pump

4848 Enprotec cleans up on ultra-fi nes

GEARS AND MOTORS5050 SEW Eurodrive says size matters, and so does

service

5151 Flexible transmission solutions

CETERUM CENSEO5656 Dawn of the mining supermajors is breaking

20

Why are the diamonds distributed like this?

Work in reinforced concrete and you’ll see why.

The optimal, three-dimensional distribution of the diamonds is the hallmark of

Diagrip™, our unique technology for diamond tools. This distribution ensures that you

utilise the full capacity of every diamond, as the diamonds are exposed and used at an

even rate. The result: long-lasting tools with superior performance for rapid, convenient

sawing, drilling and cutting – especially when working in highly reinforced concrete.

Studies show that for such applications, Diagrip™ tools are about 20 % more efficient

than traditional tools.

We offer a wide range of Diagrip™ toolsfor all types of jobs in the construction industry.You’ll find the entire range on our website.

FLOOR SAWING

WALL SAWING

DRILLING

CUTTING

HUSQVARNA CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS

Husqvarna is a registered trademark. Copyright © 2012 HUSQVARNA. All rights reserved.

Share Call: 08600 48759. Tel: 033 846 9700. [email protected]

www.husqvarnacp.co.za


Editor’s comment

During the fi rst half of the 20th century, gold was discovered on several farms south of the Free State town of Odendaalsrus. After the Second World War, Sir Ernest Op-penheimer and his Anglo American Corporation, the progenitor of Anglo Gold, bought up all the prospecting rights in the area and decided to mine the richest gold fi nd in the his-tory of South Africa. Prices of prop-erty in Odendaalsrus skyrocketed, so Oppenheimer decided that he would build his own town for his miners, instead of pay-ing the exorbitant prices in Odendaalsrus. He drove 20 km south and climbed a hill called Kop-pie-alleen and looked down on the plains, where his mines would be and decided to build a town from scratch, called Welkom, named after the farm where the gold was fi rst discovered. In 1947, the Orange Free State Provincial Council issued Op-penheimer with the ‘birth certifi cate’ of the town of Welkom. In his mind, Oppenheimer envisioned a beautiful garden city with broad streets. He commissioned the design of Welkom to leading town planner William Backhouse and landscape gardener Joane Prim. For Backhouse, the design of a town from scratch was a dream come true. Space was not a problem on the Free State plains, so he designed the streets broad, with no traffi c lights only roundabouts, to keep the traffi c fl ow-ing and no high-rise buildings in the new town. In the centre of town, he wanted a ‘Roman Forum’ with a square, where town folk could gather. It was surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped road of 75 m, known aff ectionately by the town people as the ‘Hoefi e’, short for the Afrikaans word hoefyster.

Sports clubs, golf clubs, Olympic-size swimming pools, cinemas, theatres, hospitals, parks, schools, a technical college and an airport were built, all with the riches of the gold below the fertile soil. Th e town attracted people from all over South Af-rica. Money was fl owing, salaries were high. By the 1970s, Anglo Gold was operating six massive

Publisher Elizabeth Shorten

Associate publisher Ferdie Pieterse

Editor Hans Alink

Head of design Frédérick Danton

Senior designer Hayley Mendelow

Chief sub-editor Claire Nozaic

Sub-editor Patience Gumbo

Marketing & online manager Martin Hiller

Production manager Antois-Leigh Botma

Production coordinator Jacqueline Modise

Financial manager Andrew Lobban

Administration Tonya Hebenton

Distribution manager Nomsa Masina

Distribution coordinator Asha Pursotham

Printers United Litho Johannesburg

Tel: +27 (0)11 402 0571

___________________________________

Advertising Sales

Stacey Glad

Tel: +27 (0)11 465 5452

Cell: +27 (0)83 567 0073

[email protected]

___________________________________

MEDIA

No. 4 5th Avenue, Rivonia 2191

PO Box 92026, Norwood 2117

Tel: +27 (0)11 233 2600

Fax: +27 (0)11 234 7274/5

www.3smedia.co.za___________________________________

Annual subscription:

South Africa: R350.00

(incl VAT & postage)

SADC countries: US$80

Foreign: US$100

E-mail: [email protected]

ISSN 1999-8872 Inside Mining

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

___________________________________

All material in Inside Mining is copyright

protected and may not be reproduced either

in whole or in part without the prior written

permission of the publisher. The views of

contributors do not necessarily reflect those

of the the publishers.

From boom town to ghost town

THE DEATH OF A MINING TOWN

To our avid readers, be sure to sign up and get the latest updates and inside scoop from the mining industry. Check out what we are talking about on our website, Facebook page or follow me on Twitter and have your say.

@mining_news

www.facebook.com/pages/Mining-News

mines, with 22 deep level shafts, in which 122 000 people worked. Th e mines of Welkom were producing 35% of the gold in South Africa, which in turn was producing 75% of the world’s gold.

Everyone was buying a new car every year. Th ey would say that when the ashtray was full, it was time to buy a new car. Th e ‘hoefi e’ gave rise to the hot-rod culture of Welkom, where young men would drive around at night showing off

their new Ford Cortinas with eagles painted on the engine bonnets and fl ames on the sides, fur on the dashboard and plastic oranges on the radio antennae! Th is culture also gave rise to the build-ing of a Grand Prix racing track at Welkom. Times were good for blue-collar whites. Even in the near-by black township of Th abong and the coloured township of Bronville, the living standards were very high.

Since 1994, things have not been going so well for Welkom. In the past 10 to 15 years, more than 100 000 jobs have been lost, the skip-wheels of the mines are not turning anymore and the noise of the mines, as well as the hot-rods, have fallen silent. Th e ziggurat-like walls of the slimes-dams next to the R73 road are the last remnants of a once-thriving mining industry. To say that the town is a shadow of its former self is an under-statement. It is fast becoming a ghost town, with 1 500 staff houses at the mines standing empty and even churches having closed their doors. Are more towns to follow?

Hans Alink

I want to tell you some interesting facts about Welkom, one

of South Africa’s biggest and wealthiest mining towns of

yesteryear, facts which most readers are possibly not aware of.

compiled by Ameerah Griffin

The top mining stories making the news in the past month

Mining newswww.miningne.ws

| SOUTH AFRICA |

Glencore, Xstrata merger approvedSource: www.miningne.ws

The South African Competition Commission has recommended that the Competition Tribunal

approve the acquisition of Xstrata by Glencore Interna-tional subject to conditions regarding employment.

Glencore is active in anthra-cite and thermal coal mining through its shareholding inter-ests in Xstrata‚ Shanduka‚ Umce-bo and Optimum.

In its analysis of the merger, the commission focused on the do-mestic market for thermal coal and on arrangements for the export of coal through Richards Bay Coal Terminal. The analysis

examined how the transaction would aff ect the biggest users of thermal coal, in particular Eskom and other industrial customers. It also consulted various stake-holders who may be aff ected by the merger, including Eskom, Sappi, the Department of Public Enterprises and the National Union of Mineworkers.

The Competition Commission established that sales to Eskom are governed by long-term sup-ply contracts that are typically tied to the life of a coal mine. Further, Eskom has counter-vailing power that constrains the pricing behaviour of coal producers. The commission also conducted an assessment of

Eskom’s source of coal at power station level and found that there is no instance where a power station serviced by one merging party has, as its next best alternative supplier, a mine of the other party to the merger.

The Commission concluded that the transaction is not likely to lead to a substantial preven-tion or lessening of competition. While there were concerns raised by some of the users of coal, it was found that they do not arise as a result of the merger. The commission also highlighted various existing and proposed measures that could address these concerns. These include regulatory instruments in the

Need help converting your copper resources into profit?

K' Enyuka produces affordable, workable and effective solutions tailored to specific

requirements, whether an EPCM, EPC, or LSTK project. Its offering includes beneficiation

of copper and cobalt processing associated with the treatment of sulphide and oxide ores.

Hydro-Pyro Metallurgical Project Managers| Mineral Processing Engineers |

T

F

E

+27 11 498 6000

+27 11 498 6060

[email protected] www.kenyuka.com

Coralynne & Associates +27 (0) 11 422 1949

AFRICA Green light for sale of Aviva Mining Kenya

Source: www.miningne.ws

Aviva Corporation has re-ceived approval from the Ken-yan Competition Authority to go ahead with the sale of Aviva Mining Kenya (AMK) to African Barrick Gold (ABG).

The granting of approval by the Kenyan Competition Authority satisfies the last re-maining condition precedent of the sale and purchase agree-ment that will see Aviva net an initial A$20 million Austrialian dollars (R181.34 million).

Under the agreement, there is a further payment of A$10

million due to Aviva if a Nation-al Instrument 43-101 indicated resource of 3 million ounces or more is declared over AMK’s project areas.

Lindsay Reed, CEO of Aviva Corporation, commented: “Aviva is delighted that the final condition precedent to the sale of AMK to ABG has been satisfied.”

The funding from the sale provides certainty of cash and allows the company to assess its strategic growth options for its coal-based projects in Botswana.

Mining news

mining rights regime that allow government to impose condi-tions relating to the pricing and supply of mineral resources, if necessary, and protect local buyers from being discriminated against or subject to uncompeti-tive pricing.

| SOUTH AMERICA |

Colombian mining minis-ter says mining industry needs formalisationSource: www.miningne.ws

Colombia’s mining minister, Federico Renjifo, said that he believes the mining industry needs to be formalised urgently in order to combat illicit mining and its consequences, such as miners being extorted by illegal armed groups.

The Colombian government has struggled with controlling and formalising mining for years, which is allegedly crucial to the advancement of the industry.

AUSTRALASIA Sandfire produces first output at DeGrussa mine

Source: www.miningne.ws

Sandfi re Resources announced that it has produced its fi rst copper concentrate at its DeGrussa mine in Western Australia. The company is currently commissioning the mines processing plant. Sandfi re MD, Karl Simich, said: “This signals the start of our ramp-up towards full production, which we expect to achieve during the fi rst half of 2013.” Sandfi re has said previously it expects to begin shipments of concentrates from DeGrussa be-fore the end of the year; the mine

is Australia’s biggest new copper mine in some years.

OZ Minerals’ Prominent Hill mine started production in early 2009, joining BHP Billiton and Xstrata in the ranks of major Australian cop-per producers.

Sandfi re said it has mined and stockpiled 78 000 t of ore with an average grade of 4.3% copper ready for processing at the new fa-cility. Underground mining was also expected to reach full produc-tion rates in the fi rst half of next year, the company said.

“We want control, in the in-terests of improving industrial quality, to prioritise the titles of mining production. All we think about is how to consolidate Colombia as a mining country, which would be an example in the region,” Renjifo said,

Renjifo also conveyed that the mining industry was doing well, exceeding many of its past goals but that improvement still needs to be made.

Ultimately, Renjifo said the mining industry needed to be trusted, stable and responsible in expanding production and take ‘respectful initiatives’ in relation to its workers, the environment and legalisation.

Cover story

6

DRA DIVERSIFIES

A leader in mining and mineral processingThe DRA Group’s recent expansion into Africa underscores its decision to

diversify its offering. The continent is seeing a particular resurgence in gold,

copper and uranium and as existing mining operations are upgraded and new

mines are developed, DRA is well positioned to benefit from this new “rush”.

DRA has an extensive track re-cord in coal, PGMs and dia-monds both in Africa as well as internationally. While this

experience has held DRA in good stead in these industries, diversifi cation holds the key to fuelling its expansion plans. Th e company is honing its skills in uranium and looking at opportunities in phosphates. In addition, it is busy with studies for poten-tial rare earth projects and is expanding fast into gold, having completed three gold projects. When it comes to mineral process-ing, DRA is among the world leaders.

Th e DRA Group specialises in project management and engineering in mining, infrastructure and mineral process plant design and construction. It has 14 offi ces around the world and has designed and built plants on fi ve continents. Th is pro-ject management and engineering compa-ny has, in the past 28 years, grown into a world leader in platinum concentrator de-sign and construction, the leading coal and chromium processing plant constructor in

South Africa, and a major contractor inter-nationally in the fi elds of diamonds, gold, copper and iron ore.

It maintains a staff complement of over 3 000, including a large number of highly qualifi ed and experienced engineers sup-ported by draughting personnel, support services and safety management teams.

Th e group’s various divisions include ex-pertise in mine design and development, infrastructure, mineral processing, winder engineering, resource development and ex-ploration, drilling management, and works closely with clients to compile innovative, practical and cost-eff ective engineering solutions, using leading-edge technologies. In addition, through Minopex, the group off ers contract operation and maintenance services for mineral processing plants. Re-cent projects that the group has been in-volved in include the K6 project at Kroon-dal, Assmang’s Khumani Iron Ore project, Perseus Mining’s Central Ashanti Gold Mine in Ghana, Zimplats’ N’gezi Platinum Mine expansion and Anglo American’s Unki

ABOVE Konkola North copper project located in Zambia currently in

commissioning stage BELOW Ngezi Platinum Concentrator Phase 1 by the DRA Group. Phase 2 is being completed by the

DRA Group at present

Ins ide Mining 11.12 /2012

Cover story


Platinum Mine in Zimbabwe, as well as pro-jects in the frozen north of Canada and Rus-sia, to name only a few.

Having worked on all the big coal projects in South Africa, DRA is now involved in the second phase of the Moatize project in the Tete Province of Mozambique. Th e compa-ny is also making considerable inroads into iron ore benefi ciation, based on its experi-ence in dense medium separation and the depth of skills in the group. With time, iron ore will be processed at lower grades, which is when benefi ciation will have to kick in.

Th e group defi nitely sees gold as a growth point, while uranium off ers huge potential. DRA is currently involved in front-end studies of rare earth projects like Steenkampskraal.

Projects in AfricaAfrica has a wealth of mineral resources and DRA is already leading the pack in fea-sibility studies and projects in Central and West Africa.

To DRA, projects in Africa off er exciting challenges in terms of logistics, lack of in-frastructure such as roads and electricity, communications, and environmental fac-tors. However, the various teams see these as simply all part of the job.

One particularly big project on DRA’s plate is the Kibali gold mine in the DRC, a Rand-gold, Anglogold and OKIMO joint venture for one of the largest gold mines in Africa. DRA has reached the construction phase after completing the detailed design and en-gineering stage for the processing plant and infrastructure, as well as a complete hydro-electric facility.

DRA is the EPCM contractor for the BMC copper project, located in the southern re-gion of the country. Th is project will see the design, construction and commissioning of a 3.8 Mtpa concentrator, further extending DRA’s project portfolio in base metals.

The total turnkey packageThe depth of DRA’s expertise means that it can complete projects on a turnkey ba-sis as required. One recent example is the refurbishment and conversion of the Kon-kola Copper Mine’s No 2 Shaft into a fully functional mine.

Located 450 km north-west of Lusaka in the heart of Zambia’s Copper Belt, the

shaft remained unmined since 1958 due to flooding. Originally operated by Anglo American’s Bancroft Mines and recently acquired by Teal Mining, a joint venture

between ARM and Vale, the new owners are now refurbishing the shaft, which was dewatered in the early 2000s.

While DRA Mining designed the new de-cline and oversaw the sinking of four ven-tilation shafts, DRA Technical Services un-dertook the refurbishment and reinstalla-tion of the existing drum and Koepe winders as well as the installation of a third winder.DRA Mineral Projects designed and built

the ore processing plant, including the sur-face materials handling system feeding the mine’s stockpile and transporting from the stockpile to the plant. The plant includes a

milling and flotation section, the latter in-tegrating a high degree of sophistication in its design to facilitate the recovery of both sulphide and oxide copper. In addition, the company designed and built the thicken-ers, tailings plant and dam, as well as the filter, reagent and water treatment plants.

DRA also built the mine offi ces, change houses, workshops and stores, and over-saw the reconnection of water and power,

RIGHT Karowe diamond mine in Botswana completed earlier this year for

Boteti Mining. Phase 2 is being completed by DRA at present

BELOW RIGHT Edikan gold plant located in Ghana. Jungle clearing to fi rst gold pour was accomplished in just under 14 months

With more than 44 DRA-designed and built flotation/concentrator plants in operation all over the world, it is safe to say that the group knows its business

In each issue, Inside Mining offers advertisers the opportunity to promote their company’s products and services to the appropriate audience by booking the prime position of the front cover which includes a two-page feature article. The magazine offers advertisers an ideal platform to ensure the maximum exposure of their brand. Please call +27(0)11 465 5452 to secure your booking.


Cover story

the latter requiring the upgrading of the local substation.

DRA capabilities – changing strideWith gold the big attraction for miners in Africa, DRA has been developing technolo-gy such as fl otation systems at a rapid pace. With more than 44 DRA designed and built fl otation/concentrator plants in operation all over the world, it is safe to say that the group knows its business.

Historically, gold projects used oxidised ore in a simplistic cyanidation process. Th ese projects became obsolete due to the

complexity of the mineralogy and lacking the technology to extract the gold from the sulphide ore. Today, there is fl otation technology available to extract and treat sulphide ore. With a high gold price, it be-comes more viable to treat refractory gold ore. In the case of extracting refractory gold, DRA can engineer and design a pro-cess that includes ultra-fi ne grinding and intensive cyanidation.

Th e group’s expertise in fl otation design has garnered particular attention from miners in Australia and America where such sophisti-cated technology is not commonly used.

HydrometallurgyDRA has also expanded its hydrometallurgy capabilities. Its copper hydrometallurgy in-cludes technologies such as counter-current decantation (CCD) and solvent extraction and electrowinning. However, the company has recently been focusing specifi cally on hydrometallurgical processes for treating uranium. Th is includes technologies and pro-cesses such as dynamic leaching, CCD, ion exchange, precipitation and the resin-in-pulp process, which is commonly used in Russia for gold recovery.

Innovative uranium technologyDRA is also busy with various uranium stud-ies and should they convert into projects, its portfolio in uranium would have the poten-tial to become a growth point.

DRA Mineral Projects integrates all the mining, structural and civil designs under one umbrella, eliminating the various inter-faces from a client management perspective in order to provide a seamless project. Th e group has developed a good relationship with the Nuclear Energy Council of South Af-rica and has tailored its designs to ameliorate the radiological issues of dealing with urani-um, including safety, health, environmental and zoning procedures.

All in all, the DRA Group has hedged its mineral bets both in Africa and interna-tionally. Its diversifi cation into new areas of mining and mineral processing has enabled it to build a client base consisting of some of the world’s leading miners and a track record that is continually becoming hard to beat.

SEW-EURODRIVE offers innovative drive solutions for all applications in the mining industries.

All SEW-EURODRIVE products and systems make the best use of the space available around the machine and ensure great flexibility and reliability. Minimum maintenance and simple operation ensure that you will operate machines and equipment efficiently from the very beginning.

Thanks to the modular design and countless combination options, all drive engineering components can be replaced quickly, if the need arises. From gravel mining to the excavation of gold, platinum, coal and diamonds - we put the drive into all facets of the mining industry.

SEW-EURODRIVE - Driving the world.

Tel: +27 11 248-7000 Web: www.sew.co.za

We drive the mining industry

Geared Motors \ Drive Electronics \ Drive Automation \ Industrial Gears \ Services

1TH

REA

D_4

139_

INS

Hot seat


W ith the average older gen-eration engineers reach-ing the end of their useful working careers, there is

great concern in the South African engi-neering fraternity about the dwindling number of young engineers emerging from university to replenish the pool of experienced senior engineers available in the country. Potential engineering stu-dents are increasingly opting for alterna-tive careers, such as ICT and accounting, where prospects seem to be financially

Bridging the generation and skills divide

SKILLS SHORTAGE IN INDUSTRY

Aside from the dwindling numbers of engineering graduates, there is also a

significant skills gap between the young and emerging engineers and the “grey

beards” in engineering. Hennie Read, chairman of Read, Swatman & Voigt, speaks

to Hans Alink about how his mining engineering consultancy group bridges this

skills gap.

more lucrative within a much shorter span

of time. Read, Swatman & Voigt (RSV) is working to bridge this gap.

“RSV is a solid brand. We are the first EPCM consultant to provide engineering and project management services for min-ing houses around the shaft envelope,” states Read. “It’s an undeniable fact that the South African engineering fraterni-ty is ageing. All engineering companies are facing the same challenge. People are working longer these days because they

live longer. They are therefore productive for a longer period. If you look at the sta-tistics, 20 years ago the normal distribu-tion curve for the age profile was between 45 and 55. Since then it has moved to between 50 and 65 – and that is indus-try-wide. At least 66% of our employees fall into that category, which is no differ-ent to other companies.”

Having come from the corporate world himself, Read did not want RSV to become just another ‘corporate’. For this reason, this international group created separate


enterprises called ‘linked enterprises’ rather than divi-sions when it start-ed growing into the other services. Un-der the umbrella of RSV (Pty) Ltd, linked enterprises like RSV ENCO, K’Enyuka, EHL, GEM Ventrawell, RSV SA (a BEE entity only active in South Africa) and RSV International were formed, with RSV holding a controlling share. The group is also represented in the US, Australia and Mozambique. Some of the RSV enterprises employ a large number of young engineers entering the industry, while the founding company comprises the more mature en-gineers and management. This is probably where this image of a ‘greying’ RSV comes from. “It is all about perception, image and reputation,” says Read. “If there is a problem, you can’t run away from it. You have to address it thoroughly.”

Like other engineering companies, RSV’s Human Development department regularly goes to the universities on re-cruitment drives. The company currently offers four bursaries and is focusing par-ticularly on mechanical engineering stu-dents. “My particular focus is to get RSV populated with historically disadvantaged individuals (HDI). This is where we will get our biggest advances from. HDI fe-males are very high on our agenda – two

of our industrial engineers are female – and there are some very bright engineers coming through the ranks. Bringing HDIs into the business is morally correct, the right thing to do in South Africa and it is a new resource that we didn’t have before,” argues Read.

Once bursars have completed their stud-ies, they have to work for RSV for the same number of years that they received a bursary from the company, which ranges from three to five years. Having HDI bur-sars is sometimes a challenge. As there are not too many of them, there generally is a 30% premium on these graduates. Apart from offering higher salaries, other com-panies are also prepared to buy out those three- to five-year bursary commitments.

RSV has brought a number of young graduate engineers into the organisation, but in the mining industry you can’t put a person into a job if he doesn’t have the experience, and experience is only gained with time. It takes a university graduate an average of 10 years to become an effi-cient project engineer.

Read recognises that there is a sparsely filled gap between the graduates and less

experienced engineers on the one side and the more mature, experienced engineers on the other. “We are very thin in engineers in the 5 to 12 years’ experience bracket. We don’t have as many as we would like to have,” explains Read. “You can’t solve this problem other than through training people. They need to incubate that knowl-edge so that they can gain experience and become useful engineers.”

RSV gets most of its engineers from the mines, where they support production, do practical maintenance and are trained in operations, but not in project work.

Hot seat

“If there is a problem, you can’t run away from it. You have to address it thoroughly.” Hennie Read, chairman of RSV

FAR LEFT A vertical shaft box cutMIDDLE Installation of the pre-sinking stage

BELOW Partial installation of a permanent stage sinking platform


Hot seat

According to Read, it takes up to six years of training before these engineers become competent project engineers.

To speed up the training process, RSV introduced a mentorship programme in which a group of three or four young en-gineers are assigned to a “greybeard” to

be coached on the job. The amount of mentorship varies from person to person depending on each individual’s needs, says Read.

“There is no fast-track programme for bringing people up to speed to the required level as the risks are too high. We do de-sign and project management work and all of that is done on a fast-track basis. When you do something in our line of work you only have one shot at it and it better be right, otherwise it costs you money and your reputation. We constantly need to ensure that we don’t exceed our risk taking profile, and if we notice that we do, we’d rather not take on the job,” says Read.

RSV has its own personnel consultancy with a database of more than 600 people

that it can draw on for projects or short-term assignments. This gives the company a good insight into what is happening in the market and enables it to keep ahead of what the demands are and what kind of remuneration is commanded in the market place.

Most of the mining houses require a lot of study work before implementation. As these mining houses are its clients, RSV does a lot of study work. Initially the com-pany frowned on this type of work and was reluctant to do it because it saw itself as a “practical engineer” that wanted to see its projects grow, but nowadays it forms a ma-jor part of its income. The company gets study work from all over the globe.

Today, RSV does this lucrative study work, knowing it will be lucky if 30% of its work goes into implementation. However, it is very important to get into the very early stages of these studies as it gives the company the competitive advantage, be-cause once the study has been done, it is more likely to get the implementation of that study. The mining industry is high-ly focused on feasibility studies. A mine won’t be started without an investor, and

the investor won’t invest unless it has a very robust study done that clearly spells out what the risk profile is.

“Over the years the whole leadership model of companies has changed,” remarks Read. “Everyone used to look at the lead-er as the guy at the top. If a company had a good leader, then everything fell into place. Today, you can’t run a company from the top anymore as that command and control model doesn’t work any longer. You need to have a continuum of leaders right up the ladder. Due to a shortage of leadership skills, you have to bring in peo-ple from outside who come with a different culture, which results in people becoming uncomfortable with the new leader. This is why very few of the top leaders in the min-ing industry last in their position for more than three years,” comments Read.

Read is an inspirational leader. He urges his people to continuously improve them-selves. “Without continuous improvement you are sliding backwards. We therefore continuously measure the development of our people and benchmark their progress. If things go wrong it is not the system that went wrong, it is the people who are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.”

RSV has a KPI system in place to objec-tively monitor and benchmark the perfor-mance of its workforce and apply correc-tion action if and where needed.

Read says it is vitally important that employees have the right attitude. “If you have employees who have a bad attitude

towards the company and they are exposed to the client, then the chances are slim that the cli-ent will give you work, despite the company being good at what it does.

“Management needs to un-derstand what really inspires and motivates people,” Read ex-plains. “The first is praise, the second is recognition. Money is only a temporary gratification. I get annoyed about these so-called incentive schemes. I don’t want to bribe someone to do a job for me. First of all, I must pay the employee the right amount of money. If the employee does something exceptional I won’t give the person a reward, but an award for that achievement. You must recognise and praise the person – and you must mean it,” concludes Read.

Without continuous improvement you are sliding backwards. We therefore continuously measure the development of our people and benchmark their progress

BELOW Tower-mounted koepe winders at Impala 16 Shaft

Profile


Osborn also deals with the full manufacturing process from concept and installation through to commissioning.

Osborn has a rock solid reputation as one of South Africa’s foremost materials han-dling contractors. According to Stephen Ireland, commercial director at Osborn, the company has a continuous devotion to meet the needs of its customers. “With honesty and integrity in all aspects of our business, having respect for individuals and preserv-ing entrepreneurial spirit and innovation, we prioritise meeting the demands of our customers,” says Ireland. “Th ese are our key company values that we base our customer satisfaction model on.”

OSBORN ENGINEERED PRODUCTS

Leading the product innovation race

Osborn Engineered Products is a leading name in

mining and quarry markets, providing a full range of

engineering products, including crushers, feeders,

screens and idlers, and further specialises in skid-

mounted crushing and screening plants.

International partnership proves commitment to serviceDon’t miss Osborn’s combined stand at Min-ing Indaba 2013, where it will be exhibiting with its international partner Astec Aggre-gate and Mining Group (AAMG). Th e event will take place between 4 and 7 February 2013 in Cape Town.

Osborn is also exhibiting at Bauma Africa, together with AAMG. Th e AAMG, namely Telsmith, Kolberg Pioneer, Johnson Crush-ers International (KPI-JCI), Breaker Tech-nology (BTi), Astec Mobile Screens and Os-born Engineered Products, provides inno-vative solutions for the material handling, mining, quarry, recycling, construction and demolition industries.

Osborn has experienced impressive growth in the past fi ve years and the company be-lieves customer satisfaction was a primary driver of this growth. It never walks away from a problem with one of its machines. Purchasing the equipment from Osborn is only the start of a long-standing relationship with customers.

Products overviewOsborn is one of South Africa’s foremost manufacturers of equipment for the mining and quarrying industries. Th e company of-fers an extensive range of installation-ready products. Its primary clients are the mining (70%) and aggregate (30%) industries. Th e organisation is also a leading turnkey mate-rials handling contractor, specialising in mo-bile and fi xed crushing and screening plants. Manufacturing is carried out at Osborn’s head offi ce and manufacturing facility in Elandsfontein, South Africa.

Employing over 300 people, Osborn has achieved OHSAS 18000 system certifi cation for occupational health and safety manage-ment. Osborn is a member of the Astec In-dustries Inc. group of companies – a leading

Profile


American manufacturer of plant and equip-ment for aggregate processing, asphalt road building, pipeline and utility trenching.

Comprehensive service networkOsborn has a comprehensive distribution network with sales staff working out of well-established branches in Cape Town, Dur-ban and Witbank. Agents in Zimbabwe, Zam-bia, Namibia and Ghana handle internation-al distribution. Th e company views Africa as a strategic growth market for its products and services. Th e extensive, modern manufactur-ing facilities at Elandsfontein are supported by strong procurement, expediting and man-agement functions to ensure contracts are fulfi lled and plants commissioned on time.

Jaw crushersOsborn has a complete range of single and double toggle jaw crushers from laboratory size to 1.5 x 2 m, used in a wide range of pro-cessing applications from stone quarries to manganese and chrome mines. Osborn, with Telsmith in the US, is dedicated to ongoing research to produce advances in the capabili-ties and effi ciencies. Th e latest models feature patented innovations like hydraulic relief, automatic oil lubrication and hydraulic wedge locking systems

Gyrasphere cone crushersWith over one hundred worldwide patents, the Telsmith Gyrasphere is one of the most respected names in crushing technology to-day and the technology continues to expand. Th e Gyrasphere features hydraulic relief and lock/unlocking as standard, and anti-spin as an option.

Track-mounted unitsOsborn plans to introduce track models from its USA sister companies in a range of sizes, allowing customers to choose models that best suit their mobile needs.

Modular plantsOsborn has developed and sold modular plants to support the more popular range of machinery off ered by the company. Estab-lished designs and costs provide ease of plant layouts and tender purposes. Rapid deploy-ment and erection on-site standardisation ensures accurate lead times, even when units are not supplied ex-stock.

Coal crushers & rotary breakersAmerican rolling ring crushers are success-fully operating in the South African coal industry and have also been applied in a va-riety of industrial crushing and screening

applications. On a unit cost basis, these are among the most economical machines on the market today. Osborn designs and man-ufactures the Hadfi elds range of double roll crushers, which are primarily for use in the coal industry and soft rock applications. Siz-es range up to 1 200 mm diameter rolls and 2 000 mm long. Th e company supplies rotary breakers and mineral sizers for the coal mar-ket. Osborn Rotary Coal Breakers are ideal for breaking and cleaning run-of-mine coal.

Vibrating screensOsborn has probably the largest range of vibrating screens available in South Africa. Th ese include the Telsmith, PEP and in-house Osborn brands. Th e range extends to twin motor out-of-balance exciters to standard ec-centric mechanical shafts or heavy-duty gear-box exciter types. PEP and Osborn designs off er unique screening solutions for extreme screening applications. Models include the SuperKing Incline Screen, the Osborn Linear Dewatering Screen, the Osborn Exciter Driv-en Screens and the Osborn Obex Screens.

FeedersFor heavy-duty feeding, Osborn off ers a range of apron feeders suitable for the most arduous conditions encountered in the min-ing and quarrying industries. Th e company’s apron feeders handle heavy, lumpy and abra-sive materials with accurate feed rate control. Osborn also designs and manufactures a complete range of vibrating feeders includ-ing the Osborn Linear Grizzly & Pan Feed-er, the Osborn Obex Feeder and the Osborn Apron Feeder.

Astec aggregate & mining equipmentTh e group supplies the following equipment:• Astec Underground Directional Drills and

Trenchers• KPI Stackers

• BTI Rock Breakers and underground vehicles.Telsmith Super Scrubbers are designed and built in a range of sizes to handle lumpy ma-terials, which are typically contaminated with clay and other waste material, to produce a washed product suitable for screening or fur-ther downstream processes. Th is is very pop-ular in the diamond (kimberlite) industry.

ClassifiersScrew classifi ers are used to separate water and silt, and other unwanted fi nes from sand while dewatering. Screw classifi ers are built in single or twin-screw confi gurations with a large settling and are for best salvage of fi ne sands.

MillsOsborn/ NCP off ers a wide range of stand-ard and custom designed mills. Sizes range from 1.6 m up to 11 m in diameter for vari-ous mining operations. Osborn has over 220 mills in operation globally. Th e mill range includes AG, SAG, ball, rod and pebble mills.

Conveyor idlers Osborn off ers a complete range of standard and custom designed idlers and underground structures. A stage-by-stage quality con-trolled manufacturing programme ensures a product of the highest quality, providing cus-tomers with the benefi ts they seek. Some of the benefi ts include low maintenance, mini-mum downtime and long equipment life.

HSI/VSIA full range of robust vertical and horizontal shaft impact (VSI/HIS) crushers has been added to the product off ering. Manufactured in South Africa under license to KPI-JCI, these versatile impactors have proved their mettle in the US, Canada and Europe.

Aerial shot of the Osborn head offi ce

Ferrous and non-ferrous metals


Boabab’s main focus is to develop iron ore resources in the sub-Sa-haran Africa region and establish a signifi cant pig iron operation. “Pig

Iron is used alongside scrap iron in electric arc furnaces to produce steel products. Th e market size is signifi cant (70 Mtpa and 350 Mtpa for pig and scrap respectively) and will continue to grow as the Chinese scrap mar-ket matures, and the quality and quantity of scrap elsewhere in the world decreases. Ba-obab believes that it will become one of the lowest cost producers of pig iron globally, with healthy production margins allowing it to compete at scrap prices if push comes to shove.

“Th e resource inventory at the Tete project is suffi cient to underpin the production of up to 5 Mtpa pig iron over a 25-year mine life. At production rates of 3 Mtpa or more, the Tete pig iron project wouldn’t just be world class, it would be the world’s single largest producer.”

What makes this project so exciting is that it enjoys a unique geographical and geolog-ical setting. Baobab’s Tete project has large deposits of iron ore immediately adjacent to some of the largest undeveloped coal de-posits left on the planet. Th e Tete Province

BAOBAB RESOURCES LOOKS FOR STRATEGIC PARTNER

Unlocking the iron and steel potential of MozambiqueAIM-listed Baobab Resources is developing mineral resources in Mozambique,

with its flagship project being the Tete iron ore deposit. Ben James, MD of

Baobab resources, speaks to Hans Alink about unlocking the iron and steel

potential of that country.

and the Zambezi River are also home to the Cahora Bassa Dam, Southern Africa’s largest hydroelectric scheme (plans are in place to signifi cantly increase production in the com-ing years) and feasibility studies are being completed on at least three thermal power plants in the region.

It is the project’s strategic access to the requisite steel making commodities of coal, power and water that diff erentiates Bao-bab’s project from any other in Africa, if not globally. “I always ask people ‘why are steel mills almost invariably on the coast?’ and the answer is that you have to bring togeth-er four critical commodities: iron ore, coal, power and water. In Tete, we are at the con-fl uence of these commodities and this pre-sents a unique opportunity to add a massive amount of value at the mine mouth through smelting a pig iron product.”

Th e coalfi elds are being brought into pro-duction by some of the largest international mining companies, including Rio Tinto, Vale and Anglo American. Alongside the mining giants are some of the world’s tier 1 steel producers – Jindal Steel & Power and Tata out of India – and Nippon Steel and POSCO out of Asia are also developing coal deposits in the area. “Baobab is a small company with

a big project, which will present challenges going forward. Th e major players already op-erating in Mozambique present a stellar cast of potential strategic partners for Baobab and the Tete project.

“Th e company is also slipstreaming behind the majors as they refurbish and expand the rail corridors to the coast and the port

Baobab at a glance

• Baobab Resources listed on AIM in 2007 and wholly owns Mozambique company Capitol Resources lda.

• Portfolio of five green- to brownfields projects boasting a range of commodities, including:– Tete: pig iron/vanadium/titanium– Muande JV: iron/phosphate – earning in to North River Resources tenure– Mundonguara: copper/gold/nickel– Changara: Broken Hill type base metals & manganese – Sanangoe&SengaSenga: base & precious metals• Baobab owns 85% of the Tete project since bringing in International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group, in 2008/2009. IFC now has a 15% contributing interest in the project and is the company’s second largest shareholder.

BME has operations in most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa. Outside South Africa, BME has a West African ‘hub’ offi ce in Bamako, Mali’s capital that serves our contracts in Mali and neighbouring Mauritania, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso.

For explosives, think BME.

With more than 27 years’ experience in the explosives industry, BME has built a reputation as a reliable supplier of a complete range of explosives, initiation systems and technical services. BME serves the African market primarily through its head offi ce in Johannesburg and its West African ‘hub’ offi ce in Bamako, Mali’s capital. The Bamako offi ce supports the company’s contracts in Mali, Mauritania, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso.

FOREXPLOSIVES

THINK

BMEIN AFRICA

For more information on our products and services contact BME on Tel: +27 11 709 8765 or www.bme.co.za

facilities. Th e government is also on-side and has maintained a fi rm position on equitable access for third parties on rail and port infra-structure. Once at the coast, we are strategi-cally located on Africa’s eastern seaboard to access the growth markets in Asia, India and the Middle East,” says James.

“Th is is not just another magnetite project, this is a project where we can benefi ciate dra-matically through our unique access to coal and power, and add a huge amount of value to our product right at the mine mouth. Being explorers and miners and not steel producers, the company is comfortable taking the pro-ject as far as pig iron. However, the ultimate value-add would be complete vertical inte-gration to steel production that could be sold domestically and regionally to meet Southern Africa’s increasing appetite for construction steel. A strategic alliance with any one of our steel-focused neighbours could convert this potential into reality.”

Probably one of the biggest highlights of the current Baobab pre-feasibility work is the cost of production. With a massive resource of

roughly half a billion tonnes (expected to grow to about 650 Mt by year end), which under-pins a mine life of more than 125 years at a 1 Mtpa or 25 to 30 years at 5 Mtpa, everything over 3 Mtpa of pig iron production would make Baobab the world’s largest pig iron producer.

Th e scoping study, which was completed last year, indicates that Baobab’s cost of produc-tion FOB would be in the order of US$180 (R1 549.57) to US$200/t, which puts them at less than half the cost of the cost of production of the Brazilians, who are the world’s largest pig iron producers. Th is may make Baobab the world’s lowest cost producer of pig iron and would give the company a massive competi-tive advantage as they will be able to sell their product across the entire pig iron market, in-cluding the domestic Chinese market.

Looking at the timelines for construction, James says Baobab is now in the closing

BELOW Project geologist Pillani Mangezi with drill core containing massive

iron mineralisation

INTRINSICALLYSAFE SOLUTIONS

bdecudorP

&ennylaroC

:y9491

22411

72+setaicoss

A

phases of its pre-feasibility study. “We will have the final re-sults of the pre-feasibility study by next year’s Mining Inda-ba, i.e. Jan/Feb 2013, and we will be launching our definitive feasibility study thereafter, which will take us another 12 to 18 months. Construction of this project will take around two years, followed by about six months of commissioning during which we will ramp up to full production by 2016. That is our timeline we are aiming for, which fits in well with the logis-tics timelines of the development of the Beira corridor. If you

PIG IRON MARKET

COMMODITY OVERVIEW• Pig iron is a raw material and an intermediate product of the smelting of iron ore.

• Pig iron is used in electric arc furnaces (EAF) alongside scrap iron to produce crude and finished steel products.

• Global consumption:– pig iron: ±70 Mtpa (including domestic China)– scrap iron: ±350 Mtpa (2010)

STRONG MARKET FUNDAMENTALS• Fundamentals are driven by:– the industrialisation of BRIC countries and sub-Saharan Africa –

appetite for steel products– declining quality and quantity of scrap vs growing number of EAFs.

TETE PIG IRON• There is a unique confluence of iron making commodities (iron ore, coal, power and water).

• The current JORC Resource inventory underpins a 1 to 5 Mtpa pig iron operation.

• The scoping study indicates a first quartile cost of production enabling the Tete product to compete across the broader global pig iron market, including the Chinese market, as well as competing within the significantly larger scrap iron space.

• Producing a higher-value product mitigates competing for port and rail access.



consider that we drilled the first hole ever in this area back in 2009, this is a rapid development trajectory. Seven years is not bad going from discovery to full produc-tion for a project of this magnitude.”

At Changara, Baobab had a joint ven-ture (JV) with Ferrex, which was ended amicably earlier this year. The company is developing five projects (see panel) at

Tete Iron/Vanadium/Titanium project: a major asset in an emerging mining and

industrial hub of Southern Africa

the moment. As Changara ranks fourth, it is low on the priority list. It is very much a greenfields project, which the compa-ny was looking to develop with Ferrex for base metals and manganese. “We did a lot of good work with Ferrex on Changara, which mostly involved geochemistry. Earli-er this year, Ferrex was able to get licences granted in Togo, which overlay significant manganese resources that were much more interesting for them than our Changara project. They opted to focus their efforts there rather than Mozambique, so we end-ed the JV and parted on very amicable terms. We are now looking for a new JV

partner to further develop the potential at Changara. This requires a lot of work, which more than anything else just means bodies on the ground.”

Apart from Baobab’s five operations, with Tete being the flagship asset, the company also has a copper/gold/nickel de-posit in the Manica area, right next door to Pan African Resources’ Manica project, which recently got shuffled into an Aus-tralian company called Terra Nova.

Apart from some other greenfield inter-ests, the company has the Monte Muande JV project in Tete, immediately adjacent to its Tete project. Monte Muande is held

by North River Resourc-es, with Baobab so far having earned a 60% interest in the project. At Monte Muande, Baobob is looking at a range of commod-ities, principal-ly magnetite, phosphate (for the fertiliser

market) and calcium carbonate (for both the thermal power and possibly the ce-ment industry), and it is also checking a couple of very interesting copper anoma-lies in that area.

“Next year, as we go through the defin-itive feasibility study (DFS) on our Tete project, we will also be developing discov-eries and resources on our Monte Muande project. DFSs do not tend to generate sig-nificant news flow and it would be useful to maintain momentum in the market by the regular announcement of results at our other assets, particularly Muande,” James concludes.

“Seven years is not bad going from discovery to full production for a project of this magnitude.” Ben James, MD of Baobab

rr RResourc-b so far a 60%

project.Muande,

nnng at aod-dl-

RC drilling, with Tenge mountain in the background



The platinum group, which re-treats PGM-rich chrome tailings and develops shallow PGM pro-jects, found a magnetite outcrop

in 2007 and subsequently established that it extended across its properties on the northern limb of the complex.

Sylvania confirmed that it held signif-icant economic value – the Ti-magnet-ite iron ore was valued at US$23 million (R198.22 million) in August this year– but felt that it didn’t have a material impact on its share price. As a result, the group made the decision to spin it out to a new compa-ny with experience in magnetite iron.

“At the time, we had a meeting with stockbrokers Shore Capital in London, which happened to have a client interested in the asset. The AIM-listed group Mer-cury Recycling, which recycles lamps and batteries, had already expressed an inter-est in becoming a mining company a year before,” says Ironveld chief executive, Pe-ter Cox, formerly CEO of Sylvania.

Mercury had passed on one or two other natural resources projects it didn’t view as

too appealing, but saw potential in the pig-iron project. A deal, which saw the reverse takeover of Mercury Recycling by Ironveld and the acquisition of the vanadium-bear-ing Ti-magnetite iron ore assets of the Syl-vania Group, was subsequently structured and consummated in August this year.

Cox explains Mercury liked the numbers of the project, which demand the mining of 2 Mt of ore per year for the produc-tion of 1 Mt of pig iron. The group plans to mine 20 Mt over 10 years and has

achieved 37% confirmation of its target resource.

Ironveld, which boasts mining entrepreneur, Terry McCon-nachie, and UK businessman Charles Giles, as non-executive director and chairman of its board respectively, punts the fact that it will produce a fin-ished product (pig iron) for potential local take-off.

According to Cox, Iron-veld has already held talks with a number of local

groups that are interested in procuring the pig iron as feedstock for steel; there is in-terest from Europe too. And the boon in producing a final product is that the group could derive value from recovering the ti-tanium and vanadium in the ore body, as opposed to forfeiting it by selling and ship-ping a raw, unprocessed material.

In the Bushveld, Ironveld’s property is located on the Main Magnetite Layer that runs through the eastern, western and northern lobes of the outstanding mineral complex. It covers an area of 165 km², consisting of seven adjacent farms in the northernmost portion of the northern lobe.

The company’s current inferred mineral resource extends over a combined strike length of approximately 9 km. It is located on two of the farms that have been covered by detailed diamond drilling.

The massive mineral deposit on the property is not a new discovery, but the pro-ject area

IRONVELD GOES FOR PIG IRON IN THE BUSHVELD

Vanadium and titanium boost value of oreIronveld, a pig-iron project-in-the-making on the northern limb of the Bushveld

complex, was born when another company operating in the area, Sylvania Platinum,

made an unexpected discovery on its Nonnenwerth farm , writes Tessa Kruger.



was not previously explored for its vanadif-erous titano-magnetite (VTM) potential and no historic mineral resource estimates have been carried out on these VTM layers.

MSA principal consulting geologist Dr Frieder Reichhardt, who manages the exploration programme for Ironveld, ex-plains that the ore body consists of tabular titaniferous magnetite layers in the upper zone of the Bushveld Igneous Complex.

“The lower layer, known as the Main Mag-netite Layer, is rich in vanadium, which is recoverable as a valuable by-product. Then the uppermost layer, known as layer 21 or layer PQ, is relatively poor in vanadium, but rich in titanium and may be a source of titanium products.” Various test work for the commercially viable extraction of the titanium is currently conducted.

Reichhardt says the presence of vanadi-um makes the ore potentially more valu-able compared to haematite iron ore that

can be shipped directly to a steel furnace. However, Ti-magnetite ore is currently not seen as a viable source of direct shipping ore as it has to go through beneficiation and smelting to produce a marketable iron or product.

“Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium has been mining and processing the same Main Magnetite Layer to produce pig iron, steel and vanadium products for more than 50 years,” adds Reichhardt.

Mining plans Ironveld will use opencast mining to ex-tract its ore body from 120 m underground. It plans to outsource this work to a South African group.

Beneficiation and smelting will follow, with beneficiation carried out by a local group and smelting by a combined local and international team. In the process, the concentrate will be pre-reduced and smelted in a DC furnace. Cox says they are

evaluating the use of fluidised bed pre-re-duction technology, which is not new, but has not been widely adopted yet.

Further, the group plans to build its own

modern smelter on the southern portion of its property. It will set out to secure a joint venture partner for the US$700 million project towards the middle of next year – after having applied for mining rights.

Cox says acquiring a joint venture partner is “the least of our tasks” and that various players have already expressed an interest

in the smelter project. The group currently holds prospecting rights and is completing the feasibility process concurrently with exploration work.

Production is supposed to kick off by the end of 2015, after which a ramp-up to 200 000 t of throughput a month will start.

Market demandDespite recent reports of a slowdown in Chinese demand for steel, Cox says the company feels confi dent about take-off for its product. “We are at the end of 2012 now and we are commissioning the mine at the end of 2015. Who really knows what the markets are going to look like then?” he asserts.

“Demand will come from South Africa’s in-frastructure growth projects, which all need

The group plans to mine 20 Mt over 10 years and has achieved 37% confirmation of its target resource

OPPOSITE Drilling on the Ironveld project is under way RIGHT The Main Magnetite Layer that runs through the

eastern, western and northern lobes of the outstanding mineral complex

RIGHT Ironveld core samples



steel.” He points out that there are also mas-sive gas developments taking place in Mo-zambique and that natural gas companies use steel for everything from casing to pipe-lines. What is more, similar infrastructure development is taking place all over Africa.

“This is a cyclical business. Worldwide population growth means that the market will not be depressed for long. And Iron-veld will come into production when we reach the top of the cycle again,” he adds.

While Ironveld’s property in the Bush-veld is currently bustling with exploration activity, a small core team – described as committed and highly skilled by Cox – is working to get the project off the ground at its Rivonia offices in Johannesburg.

The team’s overheads and costs are covered by Ironveld’s Mercury recycling business, which means the company can plough the money it has raised on the stock market directly into the exploration work. Ironveld raised £3 million (R41.48 million)

when it joined AIM and completed the re-verse takeover of Mercury.

Cox envisages the small team growing into a large company as Ironveld passes its

various milestones and develops the pro-ject into a mine.

The group is backed by the Ironveld board, which includes not only Giles and McConnahie, but also Nick Harrison, who has served as financial director for a num-ber of organisations in the United King-dom and has a good number of years of experience of the stock market.

Cox, the CEO, is a mechanical and chemi-cal engineer who worked for JCI’s platinum and gold mines and ran engineering con-sulting company Goldline Global Consult-ing. In his own words, he is responsible for the technical expertise on the project, while Ironveld also uses the services of a team of consulting engineers in South Africa.

An impressive group of individuals all round, but how do they perform as a team? “We are a mix of Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal supporters, so we fight a lot,” says Cox lightly.

An obvious issue that arises when talking about mining investment in South Africa

is the extent to which the ongoing labour action has made investors reluctant to put money into projects in South Africa. “Ad-mittedly, there is a great deal of nervous-ness about investing in South Africa – we get questions every day. But the serious investors know that this is only a short-term problem and that things will be sound again in the longer term,” comments Cox.

Challenges faced by the Ironveld team include the fact that its power supply will come from the Medupi power station and that it is relying on the station to be com-pleted on schedule in 2014.

Like other mining companies, it also rec-ognises the water scarcity in the project area. But Cox mentions in the same breath that Ironveld has joined the Olifant/Steel-poort Rivers Joint Water Forum, which is addressing this issue.

Thus far, a story of various building blocks falling into place, Ironveld bases its optimism about its venture on a good-qual-ity ore body, a well-positioned project, an exceptional team and a belief that the mar-ket will match its project.

Production is supposed to kick off by the end of 2015, after which a ramp-up to 200 000 t of throughput a month will start

LEFT There is water scarcity in the area

LEFT Outcropping magnetite-rich ore

0861 00 ZEST (9378) | www.zest.co.za

Cora

lynne

&Ass

oci

ate

s+27

(011

)422

1949

To find out more scan the code

or visit: zest.co.za/sustainability

BLUE IS THE NEW GREEN

Botswana focus: part 2


E arlier in October, Discovery Met-als (ASX/BSE: DML) announced that it had received an indica-tive, non-binding proposal from

Cathay Fortune (CFC) and China-Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund) to ac-quire all its shares. The cash offer price of A$1.70 [Australian dollar] (R15.21) per share represents a 56% premium to the volume-weighted average price of DML for the 20 trading-day period ended 21 September 2012, and a 50% premium to the volume-weighted average price of DML for the 30 trading-day period ended 21 September 2012. With the greater part of Chinese regulatory approvals in place, CFC is also keen to retain the majority of staff and employees of the company and suggested “a compelling retention and in-centive agreement to substantially all of DML’s senior management in positions similar to their existing roles”.

At the time of writing, the board of Discovery Metals was considering the offer and Inside Mining will closely follow developments.

Who will be next?As Discovery is the furthest advanced of its peers in the region, it is hardly surpris-ing that it becomes the first target; how-ever, one wonders if there are not some very good deals to be had among the less developed juniors in this camp? Against this backdrop the natural next questions have got to be: Who will be next? Are there any other M&A targets in Botswana? Can projects like these be viable given the lack of infrastructure?

Of course it turns out that there are a number of low hanging fruits ready for the picking should one have the appetite and the pocketbook, including the likes of Hana Mining, Tsodilo Resources, New Hana Copper and African Copper.

The first three companies are all situat-ed on the extension of the Copperbelt in Botswana. The Kuke Project of New Hana Copper is located adjacent to Hana Min-ing’s Ghanzi copper-silver project, which hosts Indicated Resources of 780 million pounds of copper and 16 million ounces of silver, and inferred resources of 3.2 billion

pounds of copper and 51 million ounces of silver. The geological setting at Kuke is interpreted to be identical to that at Ha-na’s Ghanzi Project and Discovery Metals’ Boseto Copper Project. The previous issue of Inside Mining looked at the Tsodilo suite of projects in more detail. African Copper’s Mowana mine lies within a Pal-aeoproterozoic sedimentary basin of the Southern African Shield and by all indica-tions is merely the tail of the leopard, what with the company likely sitting on a series of IOCG deposits much like the situation at Tsodilo further west in Ngamiland. Three metal areas identified on Tsodilo’s prospecting licences (14 900 km²):• xaudium magnetite BIF: Fe grades ~70%

& anomalous Ag, Co, Mo, U, V. Belt 35 x 5 km

• Copperbelt-type mineralisation: strata-bound Cu (Co) & (Ni) in meta-sediments. Belt ~90 km long, 30 and 40 km wide

• Sepupa skarn-type: Demonstrated Cu-Fe-Au skarns associated with ~535 Ma intrusions (IOCG).

Can it be done?In the case of African Copper, it sits at the doorway to Francistown – Botswana’s

The feeding has startedBOTSWANA

China has a well-documented and undiminished appetite for miner resources

in Africa. It now appears the Chinese focus is also shifting firmly to Botswana.

Dr Willem Smuts takes a look at the implications for the juniors active there.

DISCOVERY METALS’ BACKGROUND

Discovery Metals is an ASX/BSE-listed copper exploration and production company focused on the emerging Kalahari Copperbelt in north-west Botswana. The company is a copper producer at its 100%-owned Boseto Copper Project.

The Kalahari Copperbelt sediment-hosted mineralisation of the Boseto Copper Project is similar in style to the well-known and large deposits of the Central African Copperbelt of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Discovery Metals has prospecting licences covering 11 872 km2 along the Kalahari Copperbelt.

LEFT Discovery’s Boseto plant and mine infrastructure area during August this year

Botswana focus: part 2


primary mining town. As to the companies further west, infrastructure is developing rapidly in the area (both transport and power) and is not expected to delay project development, timing or scale.

So in conclusion, I believe that other than Discovery and African Copper – both producers and therefore obvious targets for the Chinese resource hunger – there are a number of other very exciting near-term take-out opportunities lurking in Botswana and the significantly better in-frastructure and lower sovereign risk has got to be a strong plus in their favour.

LATE BREAKING NEWS

At the time of going to press, Discovery announced that the directors have advised the representatives of CFC and CAD Fund that the price proposed by CFC and CAD Fund is inadequate and does not reflect, in the context of a change of control, the value of the company’s operations and expansion plans, the potential to increase the resources on the company’s tenements through further exploration, the strategic value of the company with an operating project and management team in Botswana, and the scarcity value of the company.

The directors have advised the representatives of CFC and CAD Fund that if they wish to put a new proposal to the board, the board will consider and assess that new proposal on its merits.

CATHAY FORTUNE CORPORATION

RIGHT Regional setting of the Neoproterozoic Copper Belt in Zambia, DRC and Botswana. Botswana is set to

become as exciting a mining destination as Zambia and the DRC, but without the associated infrastructural and sovereign

risk constraints

Cathay Fortune Corporation (CFC) is one of the earliest Chinese private equity investment firms. Since its launch in 1997, CFC has investments in about 14 companies in different sectors in China such as network equipment, aviation, industrial automation, financial services, resources and mining.

CFC is a long-term, value-add investor. For its investment positions in private and public companies, CFC plays important roles in assisting with strategic decision-making, corporate governance, new market access/expansion and bolt-on acquisitions. CFC is 99% owned by Yong Yu and currently has about 30 investment professionals in three offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong.

China MolybdenumChina Molybdenum is the largest moly producer in China and the fourth largest in the world; it is also the second largest tungsten producer in China and an emerging precious metals producer. In 2011, its moly production accounted for approximately 20% of total production in China and 8% of the world; its tungsten production accounted for 9% of total production in China.

China Molybdenum is listed on the main board of HKSE under the code 3993 and has just been granted approval by CSRC to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. At the end of 2011, China Molybdenum’s

total assets were RMB14.9 billion [Chinese renminbi] (about R20.9 billion) and its net asset were RMB10.7 billion. Its revenue and net income for 2011 were RMB6.1 billion and RMB1.1 billion respectively. CFC owns 35.4% of China Molybdenum.

WDC Diamond ProiectWDC Diamond Project is located in Wang Fang Dian of Dalian City. WDC controls diamond reserves of about 12.36 million carats and is the largest diamond reserve in Asia and the eleventh largest in the world. The WDC Diamond Project is 100% owned by CFC.

RIGHT The Botswana Power Corporation grid is in place – the largest question for

the medium term is feeding that grid

Engineering and project management


The agreement is subject to certain conditions and the conclusion of all legal agreements. In terms of the proposed transaction, Mpho

Mothoa, a founding shareholder, will be appointed as the new MD of the company. The transaction will also see Mothoa in-crease his shareholding to 45%.

Neville Matodes, another founding share-holder and previous MD, will continue to play an active role in the company as techni-cal director as well as serving on the board.

Anglo American Khula Mining Fund (AAKMF) is a joint initiative between Anglo American and Khula Enterprise Fi-nance Limited, a government entity that promotes small and medium mining-relat-ed investments. AAKMF will hold a 10% stake in the company that Vunani Corpo-rate Finance helped to facilitate and advise Mothoa on the transaction.

IMP is a South African-owned company based in Mpumalanga, with head offices in Witbank.

The company strives to become an “op-eration and maintenance contractor of

choice” to the coal mining industry in the supply of the following services:• cost-effective supply, operations and

maintenance of modular coal processing plants (washing plants) that meet the throughput, quality and safety alloca-tions of their client’s operations

• professional services in the consulting field, including due diligence, pre-feasi-bility, bankable feasibility and metallur-gical trouble shooting studies.

IMP aims to develop the entrepreneurial skills of its BEE partner, provide training to its personnel to the levels of industry re-quirements, and achieve the status with its customers of a partner in the supply and cost-effective operation and maintenance of coal processing plants (mineral process-ing), which deliver effective returns to the shareholders.

The company is committed to the high-est standards of safety, environmental and health performance at all times and fully supports the SHEQ management stand-ards and systems of its partner. It also un-dertakes to train and develop its employees to ensure appropriate levels of competence to efficiently perform their work activities.

The strategy is to build the company into a profitable entity so as to maximise

shareholder value through the provision of a value-adding service, and requires that it aligns its activities to maxim-ise its involvement in the clients’ vision in the development of efficient mineral processing objectives.

IMP strives to have seven plants in con-tract operations and maintenance over a five-year period, with an additional three over a further five years. In addition, it aims to be at the forefront in providing quality modular processing plants, as ei-ther part of these contract operations or as separate entities. “We will continue to pur-sue relationships with service providers and clients alike who are both interested in developing local resources to their mu-tual benefit, as well as for the industry for which they serve,” the company states.

Ingwenya takes BEE ownership to 45%

BEE IN MINING

Ingwenya Mineral Processing (IMP), a junior coal

processing company, has concluded an agreement

with Anglo American Khula Mining Fund in relation

to a proposed BBBEE transaction.

BELOW An X-ray sorter used to recover coal from a discard dump with the fi nal

discards in the foreground

BELOW Benefi ciation of low-grade coal. The full-scale FGX plant at Middelkraal is

successfully used to upgrade coal for Eskom

Anglo Thermal Coal and Ingwenya Mineral Processing installed a three-product

cyclone at Umlalazi colliery



The company specialises in the fabrication and erection of struc-tural steel, plate work, steel bulk storage tanks, process piping and

mechanical installations. Focusing on min-ing, oil and gas, paper and pulp, and mill-ing industries, the structural, mechanical, plate work and piping (SMPP) contractor has completed projects and exported plant to more than 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo and Zambia. Its client list includes the big role players in the mining industry, such as DRA, TWP, Sasol, Great Basin Gold, East-Plats, BHP Billiton, Aquarius and K&T.

Steval recently completed a R100 mil-lion project at the Konkola North Copper Project in the Chililabombwe district in Zambia. The main client of this project is the African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and Vale 50:50 joint venture, with DRA being the consulting engineer. “Steval did the front-end of this project, which included

all the conveyors leading out from the shaft; in total 10 conveyors circuits, three transfer towers, two steel buildings, three overhead cranes, 5 km of process piping, 5 km of overland piping, various pump installations, three bridges and loading structures. A total of 740 t of steel was fabricated, supplied and installed by Steval during this project. Commissioning of the project started last week and the client is satisfied with the work done,” states mar-keting manager Thys van Emmenis.

Under a separate contract, Steval com-pleted two mill installations at Konkola North for Polysius, the mill division of technology providers ThyssenKrupp En-gineering. Work entailed the assembly and installation of a ball mill and an SAG mill.

“Moving away from maintenance projects, Steval’s main focus is on complete capital expansion projects,” explains Van Em-menis. “Being an SMPP contractor, process plants are more our game. This includes structural steel and platework fabrication

and installation, mechanical installations, process piping and overland piping.

“Apart from doubling our turnover to an expected R400 million from last year, Ste-val has also grown in terms of its capabili-ties. We have completed numerous turnkey projects where we do the engineering de-sign ourselves, right through to installa-tion and commissioning of the project. We try to keep as much as possible of the work in-house and try to avoid subcontracting.”

Located near White River, Mpumalanga, Steval’s workshop covers 8 150 m² and includes five overhead cranes, guillotines, bending machines, punch and cropper units, press-breaks, pipe-rollers, radial arm drilling units, profile plasma cutters, CNC beam drilling lines and angle-cropping ma-chines. The company’s combined fabrica-tion capability is 600 tpm, with effective capacity of 400 tpm.

This medium-sized construction con-tractor has about 550 employees, of which 80 are permanent staff, with 30 in man-agement in the Project Support Unit. The company has a core technical team of spe-cialists, who provide the competence and expertise for the technical work and move from project to project. The majority of staff are contractors employed for a spe-cific project on a limited duration contract.

“We at Steval are proud of the fact that we get things done. In this extremely competi-tive market where one contractor struggles to differentiate itself from another, we want to build long-term relationships with our clients. We therefore believe that our purpose is to help our clients achieve their purpose. This is why the company adopted the motto ‘possibility is everything’,” con-cludes Van Emmenis.

STEVAL ENGINEERING

SMPP contractor extends its horizonsBuilding long-term relationships has proven to be

SMPP contractor Steval Engineering’s key to success.

Over the past couple of years, the company has

almost doubled its year-on-year turnover.

ABOVE Steval head offi ce in White RiverBELOW Konkola North construction

STRUCTURAL MECHANICAL PLATEWORK PIPING

FABRICATORS AND ERECTORS

www.steval.co.za [email protected] / Tel: +27(0)13 758 1015 / Fax: +27(0)13 758 1050

POSSIBILITY IS EVERYTHING

ESTABLISHED IN 1997, IN NELSPRUIT, MPUMALANGA

TODAY COMPLETING PROJECTS THROUGHOUT SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

WE SPECIALIZE IN THE FABRICATION AND ERECTION OF STEEL. WE DON’T JUST

CONSTRUCT STRUCTURAL STEEL, WE WORK WITH OUR CLIENTS TO HELP MAKE THEIR

VISIONARY PROJECTS A REALITY. THIS IS OUR PURPOSE; TO EXPERIENCE THE SHEER JOY

AND PRIDE THAT DEVELOP FROM MAKING OUR CLIENTS DREAMS COME TRUE WHEN

BUILDING AND COMPLETING THEIR PROJECTS SUCCESSFULLY. TOGETHER WE DARE TO

CHALLENGE THE IMPOSSIBLE, BELIEVING THAT SUCCESS IS THE OBJECTIVE.

WELCOME TO STEVAL ENGINEERING

WHERE POSSIBILITY IS EVERYTHING



What diff erentiates Consul-met’s full lump sum turn key (LSTK) project delivery from that of the regular EPCM ser-

vice providers is that we off er a fi xed LSTK price for a project up front and we commit to those costs. Our clients are happy with this, because they don’t have to go back to the board of directors to request addition-al funds. We don’t work on a reimbursable rates basis like most of industry where costs can get out of hand, which then kills the pro-ject. LSTK projects are high risk, but if the scope of the project is clearly defi ned, you know what you are doing, and you are able to improvise when it comes to logistics and site establishment and site civil, mechanical and electrical erection, then it can be very rewarding,” explains Lahee.

Since its inception eight years ago, Consul-met created a niche for itself in heavy miner-al processing, with more than 80 projects in Africa. Most of its designs are pre-designed, which reduces the design risk, and they have the required systems to manage the logis-tics, procurement, construction, commis-sioning and ramp-up of a complete project.

“Delivering LSTK projects in Africa can prove to be very tricky. Conditions are dif-fi cult – the logistics, lack of infrastructure, weather conditions, red tape and politics – and can lead to major delays in project deliv-ery. Th e company must be able to deal with set-backs. Improvisation is key,” says Lahee.

Consulmet’s current and most recent deliverables in Africa include projects in Southern and West Africa. In Sierra Leone, West Africa, the company is currently pro-viding spiral plants for a heavy minerals pro-ject. In Southern and Central Africa, Consul-met is involved in projects in the DRC, DMS copper concentrator circuit for various cli-ents), Zambia (a Consulmet copper and gold project at Ndola), Zimbabwe (seven modular diamond and gold projects), and Botswana

(diamond autogenous milling project.)A large portion of the 80 projects deliv-

ered into Africa are in the diamond indus-try making Consulmet one of the leading diamond process engineering companies in Africa. Having delivered an average of 10 diamond projects a year for the past eight years (more than 80 projects in total) prob-ably makes Consulmet one of the leading diamond process engineering companies in Africa. “Having signifi cantly diversifi ed our portfolio, our clients typically are mid-tier, entrepreneurial mining companies, with good growth and cash in bank. Th ese cli-ents are aware of the high fee structure of the bigger industry players and prefer our LSTK system. Also, our methodology – this includes the modular concept and the way we implement elements like civils and struc-tural steel – and our technology is better suited for implementation in remote areas,” states Lahee.

Specialising in process engineering, Con-sulmet also has a core of about 30 qualifi ed process engineers with experience across all the minerals and metals and 150 permanent employees, including its offi ce in Australia. Complementing these services is a strong 3D Inventor design offi ce. Consulmet has its own manufacturing workshop in Klerksdorp where the company fabricates its structural steel and plate work and does rubber lining. Modules are trial erected and then exported to site.

“Consulmet is proudly South African and has a strong and loyal relationship with its local suppliers, which enables it to meet its LSTK obligations. On time, on budget, is key to our reputation.”

LSTK SPECIALIST

A differentiating factorConsulmet specialises in the design, supply and construction of mineral processing

plants. The company has developed a range of modular niche mining technologies

for the benefi ciation, extraction and recovery of minerals and metals. MD Derek Lahee

explains his company’s lump sum turnkey full project delivery to Hans Alink.

BELOW Consulmet’s standard 150tph DMS plant, DRC RIGHT 100tph AG milling

installation, Botswana

Beneficiation


Since 1981, the Aluminium Federa-tion of South Africa (AFSA) has been actively involved in increasing the awareness and use of aluminium in

South Africa. Th e organisation acts as a voice for the aluminium industry and currently comprises 130 members.

Mark Krieg, AFSA’s executive director, pro-vides some insight into the role AFSA plays in the industry, specifi cally by ensuring eff ective

downstream benefi ciation and local product value-add in South Africa.

Aluminium production Aluminium is the third most common el-ement in the earth’s crust. It is, however, only commercially extractable in certain countries. Th ere are signifi cant deposits of bauxite, or raw aluminium ore, in Guin-ea, the United States, Brazil, Russia, China,

Kazakhstan, India, Indonesia and Australia. Australia remains the world’s largest bauxite producer, and the biggest supplier of alumini-um oxide (Al2O3) to South Africa. Aluminium oxide, generally referred to as alumina (α-alu-mina), is a white powder that is formed during the benefi ciating of bauxite – in the so-called Bayer process. South Africa does not mine any bauxite. Although the mineral is prevalent in the country, it does not occur in a commercial-ly mineable form (at least not when compared to the price of obtaining aluminium oxide at

ALUMINIUM FEDERATION OF SOUTH AFRICA

Directing South Africa’s aluminium value chain The Aluminium Federation of South Africa acts as a pivotal information platform

for the aluminium industry and plays a critical role in ensuring downstream

product beneficiation of aluminium in South Africa.

LEFT aluminium extrusions being fabricated

BELOW Rolling mill – South Africa has one rolling mill, in Pietermaritzburg. It produces

several rolled aluminium strips for further downstream benefi ciation

Beneficiation


world market prices), which is why the coun-try imports alumina from Australia.

Th e production of commercially pure alu-minium happens during the smelting pro-cess. Th rough a process of using carbon and a substantial amount of electricity, alumin-ium is extracted from its oxide, alumina, to produce 99.5% pure aluminium. As a general rule of thumb, 4 t of bauxite produces 2 t of alumina, while 2 t of alumina produces 1 t of aluminium.

In South Africa, BHP Billiton does primary production of aluminium at its Hillside and Bayside smelters in Richards Bay. Th e Hillside smelter annually produces 720 000 t of alu-minium, while Bayside produces 95 000 t of al-uminium per annum. Th e smelters collectively export 600 000 t of primary ingot per year.

Alloying and secondary processingAluminium is the generic term for a group of alloys (wrought and cast) that are character-ised by its chemical composition.

Th e typical aluminium alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon and zinc. Alloyed aluminium is classifi ed in various series. Th e series classifi cations de-pend on the type of alloying elements added to the aluminium. Th ere is also a large variety of minor alloying elements such as iron, chro-mium, titanium, lead, bismuth, nickel, boron, vanadium, zirconium and beryllium.

Pure aluminium (without any alloying elements added) is used for tinfoil packag-ing in the food industry and for electrical

equipment, because it is such a good conduc-tor of electricity. It is also extremely soft. As the strength of the alloys increases, the duc-tility (bendability) generally decreases. Th e seven-series alloys (with added copper and magnesium, among some of the main alloys) are stronger, but less bendable, and are used in high-tech aero- and space applications.

Th e behaviour of the alloys depends large-ly on its composition, hardness and temper (there are both heat treatable and non-heat treatable alloys). One of AFSA’s key roles is to provide technical advice on the properties, design criteria, corrosion resistance, machi-nability, formability, weldability and surface fi nishing of the various alloys, says Krieg.

Although BHP Billiton produces some al-loys, South Africa also imports 84 000 t of alloys annually (specifi cally the six-series).

Th e products from the BHP smelters serve as input to the semi-fabricators. In South Africa, the semi-fabricators (fi ve in total, plus the foundries and cable manufacturers) produce extrusions, plate, sheet, foil, cable and aluminium casting for the diversity of downstream fabricators and manufacturers in South Africa – as well for export.

South Africa produces 40 000 t of extrud-ed aluminium, 30 000 t of cable aluminium, 25 000 t of casting and 210 000 t of rolled alu-minium. Th e fabricators supply practically all the requirements of local manufacturers and other end-users in South Africa. Increasing-ly, semi-fabricated and fi nished products are being imported, largely from South East Asia.

Rolled aluminium is produced from South Africa’s only rolling mill, owned by Hulamin, situated in Pietermaritzburg. Hulamin is a conventional fl at rolled aluminium products producer and operates a direct chill, remelt facility and hot, cold and foil rolling mills.

Th e secondary aluminium smelters use South African scrap aluminium to produce the input raw material used by the foundries. Of the scrap aluminium, 41 000 t is exported and 25 000 t is benefi ciated locally. Th e larg-est secondary smelters in South Africa are Zimalco and Insimbi; there are also smaller smelters, each with their own capabilities.

As an extremely versatile material, alu-minium is often referred to as the ‘the magic metal’. Qualities such as ductility, non-cor-rosiveness, non-magnetic, non-combus-tible, non-toxic, imperviousness and a high strength to mass ratio makes it an upper-end metal for various applications. However, aluminium is often criticised for the large amounts of electricity consumed during the smelting process, therefore being attacked as a ‘non-green’ metal.

“What very few people realise about alu-minium production is that on average 50% of aluminium products contain recycled alumin-ium. Th e secondary smelting of aluminium uses only 5% of the energy a primary smelt-er uses,” notes Krieg. Th ese facts contribute greatly to the sustainability and environmen-tal benefi ts of aluminium.

A substantial amount of energy saving therefore occurs through the fact that alu-minium has such a long product life cycle and is such a highly durable product. A case in point is the Johannesburg Post Offi ce in Jeppe Street. Th e 75-year-old building still contains its original window and doorframes, made out of aluminium.

Because the metal is so light, it also results in signifi cant fuel savings in the transport

ABOVE The aluminium value chain – showing imports, production and

exports, as well as how much value is added downstream

Beneficiation


industry, and it is generally perceived as a much better insulator in building materials because it seals so much tighter than wood or steel frames.

AFSA – a voice for the industryAFSA claims to be one of the more active al-uminium industry associations in the world

– and the depth of its well-developed website certainly supports this claim. Th e organisa-tion acts in the best interest of the industry and its members, and supports projects that will directly or indirectly lead to the alumini-um industry’s growth and development.

AFSA plays a critical lobbying role for the al-uminium industry as a whole and represents the issues the industry faces at governmental level. It provides general and technical in-formation to government and supports pro-grammes that will lead to job creation and the development of local products and markets.

One specifi c project that AFSA is currently focusing on is the DTI’s designation of prod-ucts initiative. Product designation refers to an instruction to government departments by the DTI to only use specifi ed or ‘designat-ed’ local products when engaging in public spent. “We are working hard towards get-ting certain aluminium products designated,

specifi cally as Eskom will still invest a lot in construction of transmission lines and power stations, in which aluminium products can play a key role,” Krieg informs. Additionally, AFSA is actively engaging with government players to represent the industry in the Com-petitive Supplier Development Programme (CSDP) – a socio-economic initiative for

state-owned enterprises to develop the lo-cal infrastructure (electricity plant, renewa-ble energy equipment, rail coaches, wagons and tankers) with the aim of increasing the competitiveness, capacity and capabilities of local suppliers.

A second important role of AFSA is that of being a technical information platform. “We have a team comprising four technical experts and we are able to give assistance and technical advice to members. Someone would, for instance, approach us and say ‘I want to build a microlight, what type of alu-minium should I use?’ We will then provide the details of a local extruder in that cate-gory and give technical advice on the type welding rods to use, etc,” Krieg explains.“We do not get involved in the pricing or commercial aspects of the industry,” he says. “Th ings like wage negotiations and pricing are completely out of our mandate.”

As far as skills are concerned, the chal-lenge is the same throughout the industry, notes Krieg. Th e majority of South Africa’s engineers with key skills and experience are now close to retirement age and there has not been an infl ux of young engineers to the industry. Instead, youngsters pursue careers in marketing or accounting, leaving the en-

gineering fraternity with a critical skills gap across the board.

AFSA plays an advi-sory role, specifi cally to the MERSETA (Manufacturing, En-gineering and Relat-ed Services Sector

Education and Training Authority) to assist with the development of training material and curriculums. “We provide information to the MERSETA on the typical qualifi ca-tions and skills necessary for welding, boil-ermaking, fabrication and foundry skills, for example.

“We also sponsor the Young Welder of the Year competition, and we are also busy with a project to develop an Aluminium Welding Centre of Excellence, working closely with the Institute of Welding,” says Krieg. Th e pro-ject is still in its early stages, but it is set to further expand the skills pool required for the aluminium industry to be sustainable.

AFSA is also on the steering committee of the National Foundry Technology Network (NFTN) – another DTI-led initiative. Th e NFTN is a collective government and indus-try association eff ort to develop a globally competitive local foundry industry through

appropriate skills training, tech-nology transfer and the diff usion of new technologies.

Th e Aluminium Casters Associ-ation, the Aluminium Fabricators and Sheet Products Associations, and the Aluminium Surface Fin-ishers Association operate under the aegis of AFSA. Th e sector as-sociations are the cornerstones of the federation. Some of the associations/institutes that AFSA partners with include the South African Industry of Foundrymen, the South African Institute of Welding and the South African In-stitute of Steel Construction.

Th rough its strong backbone of technical expertise, and the major engagement and lobbying role, AFSA plays an integral role in add-ing downstream value to South Africa’s aluminium industry.

“What very few people realise about aluminium production is that on average 50% of aluminium products contain recycled aluminium. The secondary smelting of aluminium uses only 5% of the energy a primary smelter uses.” Mark Krieg, AFSA executive director

Getting the mining industry off the ground

The IDC Mining and Minerals Beneficiation unit provides

development finance to enterprises, from emerging mining

houses to jewellery manufacturing.

The unit’s main areas of focus are financial and technical

assistance for the development of mining and beneficiation

projects; junior and emerging mining houses; services-related

activities and contracts; mining asset acquisition; and developing

the jewellery industry.

Funding is structured using a wide array of financial instruments

and loans are typically for a five-to-seven-year period.

If you have the true entrepreneurial spirit and a project that

can contribute to creating jobs and building South Africa’s

industrial capacity, visit www.idc.co.za to find out how the IDC

can help you uncover the hidden gems.

Chillibush8253IDC

To apply online for funding of R1 million or more go to www.idc.co.za

Telephone: 086 069 3888Email: [email protected]

Beneficiation


The six-stage continuous autoclave can be used for a number of indus-tries, including precious metals – in diffi cult-to-treat refractory gold

and platinum (PGM leaching and the re-moval of base metals) – as well as the base metals industries for copper, cobalt, nickel (for nickel laterites) and zinc.

Although these plants are not unique, they are relatively rare, with the only other commercially available pilot plants being in Canada and Australia. In the past, mining and metallurgical projects in the African region were forced to take their material to commercial testwork providers in Australia and Canada as such a service was not avail-able in South Africa.

“Pressure oxidation was developed for processing refractory ores,” explains Dr Leon Kruger, manager of Mintek’s Hydro-metallurgy division. “In these ores the gold is often occluded in the sulphide miner-als, typically pyrite or arsenopyrite, which makes it extremely diffi cult to recover this gold. Th e pressure oxidation process takes place when sealing a reactor with a miner-al in solution under high temperature and then increasing the pressure and raising the temperature to about 150 to 200°C. Th e combination of an elevated temperature and pressure provides the chemical poten-tial required to alter the sulphides so that they become amenable to conventional leaching, allowing it to be recovered eco-nomically by conventional circuits.” A typ-ical process fl ow sheet is given in Figure 1.

“Th e selection of what pre-oxidation tech-nology is most appropriate is always site- and ore-specifi c. Th e currently preferred processes are pressure and biological oxida-tion. Th e acquisition of this pressure oxida-tion pilot plant means that Mintek now has modern, continuous pilot facilities to test

NEW TECHNOLOGY AT MINTEK

SA’s first commercial pressure leaching plantThe first commercial continuous pressure leaching

pilot plant in South Africa has been erected

at Mintek in Randburg for use by local and

international mining and metallurgical industries

for test work.

LEFT Dr Leon Kruger, manager of Mintek’s hydrometallurgy division (left), and Tendai Tambudze, engineer at Mintek Hydromet’s gold and uranium group, at South Africa’s

fi rst commercial continuous pressure leaching pilot plant

Beneficiation


both the biological and pressure oxidation approaches,” Kruger concludes.

Th e six-stage continuous autoclave was donated by independent consultant Dr Grenvil Dunn to the Engineering Faculty of the University of Cape Town (UCT). Th e faculty, in turn, elected to donate it to Mintek, as the research organisation has the appropriate operational and mainte-nance expertise, personnel and back-up services to operate the plant, as well as the physical space to house such a facility. In return, Mintek will train UCT chemical en-gineering students in using the technology and pay the university a commission on the commercial service work done.

Th e plant was transported from Cape Town and reassembeled in the hydrometal-lurgy bay at Mintek where it has been pres-sure tested and is currently being recom-missioned to provide a commercial service to mining and metallurgy clients who want to apply the latest technique in a new wave of technology. “Th e fact that such a facility is now available on their doorstep and com-panies operating in Africa no longer have to send their samples abroad is good news for industry, locally and regionally,” says Peter Craven, Mintek’s general manager: Busi-ness Development.

In another Mintek development, the al-loy atomisation plant, which was recently offi cially opened by the minister of Mineral Resources, Susan Shabangu, is currently be-ing commissioned. With this plant, the pyromet-allurgy division of Mint-ek intends to research and develop atomisation technology for the pre-cious and base metals industries. Th e plant will provide an eff ective means for the produc-tion of solid metal pow-der from 6 t batches of molten metal.

“Many smelting pro-cesses that selectively recover metals yield an alloy that is too malle-able to be crushed or milled. However, the downstream processing of the alloy often re-quires it to be in powder form and atomisation provides an eff ective means of producing

Mill cyclone over ow

Surge tank

Splash He nTowers

Condenser

OxygenSteam

Autoclave

FlashCooling Towers

Gas Blee

Surge tank

Slurry Coolers

Proceswater

Cyclone

Loaded carbon

Carbon

NaCN NaOH Fresh

carbon

Tailings Pond

Scrubber And Stack

Gas/Stream

Heat Recovery

Carbon-In-Leach Tanks Reference: Th omas K.G., Pressure oxidation overview, Developments in Mineral Processing, Volume 15, 2005, Pages 346–369, Advances in Gold Ore Processing

FIGURE 1 POX circuit

metal powder from liquid metal,” explains Rodney Jones, specialist consultant and acting manager of the pyrometallurgy divi-sion at Mintek.

In this process, the molten alloy is tapped into a ladle furnace where its temperature is controlled before it is discharged by using a slide-gate valve into a tundish that feeds the water atomiser. Inside the atomiser, high-pressure jets impinge on the molten stream to break it down into fi ne particles, which can vary in size depending on the al-loy and the pressure of the jets. Th e solidi-fi ed particles are initially separated from the water by a magnetic separator, followed by a dewatering screw. Th e fi nal drying of the powder takes place in a rotary kiln.

“Th ese powders are well suited for subse-quent leaching operations where surface area is an important consideration. It is also suitable for pneumatic conveying and other material handling systems that require ac-curate feed rate control,” says Jones.

Designed and built by MDM Engineering, which sourced the atomisation technology from UK-based metals processing compa-ny Atomising Systems, the new plant will initially be used for a two-year R&D pro-ject for Anglo American Platinum. Long

duration demonstration programmes are particularly valuable in pyrometallurgical processes where many important engineer-ing issues only surface and can then be addressed over much longer periods than typical pilot plant tests of a month or less.

Th e overall aim is to demonstrate the eff ectiveness and safety of the technol-ogy over the next two years. After that, it should open up opportunities in various new areas, wherever malleable metal alloys are required in powder form.

LEFT The six-stage continuous autoclave at Mintek, which will be used locally and

regionally for continuous pressure leaching pilot plant test work

Technical commentary


It was late 2001. Th e boom was over. NAS-DAQ and the tech sector had implod-ed and come crashing down just a few months earlier. Th e US economy was in

a state of turmoil, and uncertainty and fear were written on everyone’s faces.

Yet there we were, a very small and relative-ly unknown machinery company, selling CNC Automation into small ‘mom-and-pop’ steel fabricating shops across the US at a previous-ly unheard of rate.

How was it possible that in the midst of this drastic downturn in the economy that we were selling more machines than in any time in our history? At the time we were just as surprised by our success as anyone else, but with hindsight and analysis, it became clear

to us that there was a strong macro trend emerging in the fabricating arena and, for the fi rst time, it was happening at the level of the small to medium fabricator.

Life as a small mining fabricator has always been a pretty tough way to make a living. Just getting started was hard enough. You needed a bottomless pit of money, expen-sive machinery, a good location, patient ven-dors, great cash fl ow, steady paying custom-ers and an expensive skilled, energetic and well-disciplined workforce.

For the most part, small mining fabricating shops are either swamped with work or don’t have enough, and their owners are always too busy with the day-to-day pressures of satis-fying customers, chasing up orders, dealing

with uncooperative vendors and employees, and the never-ending administration of run-ning a business that they have built pains-takingly from scratch. Th ey seldom have the time to give much thought to how they can be making incremental productivity improve-ments in their operations. Most just keep on doing what they have always done and for many, productivity is an often misunder-stood term.

But unless the fabricator gets out from un-der this cycle, and seriously starts looking at productivity, there will be a lot of hard work, sweat and grind, and very little profi t at the end of the day.

To complicate matters, in countries where we have had an abundant supply of relatively

Chasing profitability for the mining fabricator

HOW TO BECOME A LOW-COST PRODUCER

Until recently, automation was unavailable to smaller fabricators. Ocean

Machinery’s Danny Steyn, BSc Mech Eng, looks at the affordable options now

available and how they help reduce costs.


Risk management for a sustainable balance of economic, social and environmental considerations

Services include:

Environmental & Social Impact Assessment

Water Management

Investigation, Remediation & Rehabilitation

Auditing & Compliance

30 years of consultancy experience, 89 offices worldwide environcorp.com Contact ENVIRON Johannesburg: Clinton Phaal 011 791 3490 [email protected]

cheap labour and an on-off approach to labour, through various means we have been able to crew up when we are swamped with work, and trim down when we are short of work. Th is on-off approach to labour has had long-term negative eff ects on our understanding of how to make productivity improvements. In other countries where employees are typi-cally very diffi cult to terminate, owners take a long, hard look at all possible options prior to hiring a new employee who might have to be there for the next 20 years! Two of the most commonly considered tactics are outsourcing (contracting) the work, or investing in ma-chinery to do the work, as the machine can be paid off in a few years and it will continue to work for free for many more years, while the new employee will require a salary for as long as they are at the company.

Becoming a low-cost producerWhen commodity mineral prices are going through the roof, noone cares about pro-ductivity. Mines need the steel now and are prepared to pay. But no commodity prices remain elevated indefi nitely. Th ey always come back down, which is when you know you can’t continue doing it the same old way.

Becoming a low-cost producer has to be the single most important goal of any fabricator. And improving productivity is the only way that this goal is achieved – steadily, incremen-tally and methodically; one step at a time.

So how do you start going about becoming a low-cost producer?By and large, the costs for all fabricators with respect to their steel costs, wages, overheads, consumables, etc., are all very similar. And

most have very little ability to control these costs. Th e only real variable in the mix is how many man-hours he has in each tonne of fab-ricated steel. By lowering the man-hours per tonne, the fabricator is able to dramatically reduce costs, improve the bottom line and be more competitive in the bidding market.

One of the fi rst areas that should be ad-dressed is any tedious repetitive manual oper-ation that can easily and economically be ex-tracted from the fabricating process. Th row-ing labour at a problem often appears on the surface to be the quick and easy solution, but experience dictates that this is often the most expensive approach in the long term.

With the ongoing improvements in steel fabricating machinery, many activities that have traditionally been done manually can now be done with some form of automation, and the cost of automating the plant has dropped to very aff ordable levels. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the approach to beam fabrication.

In the past, the small to medium fabricator had two options: either manually lay out and

mag drill the holes, or invest a tremendous amount of capital in a conventional beam drill line. For the average fabricator, this was always out of his reach, but nowadays there are several options designed to increase the productivity of the hole drilling process.

Focusing on the cost of layout alone, the most expensive person on the shop fl oor, your layout man, has to repetitively layout a variety of parts, including beams, base plates, angles, channels, etc. Yet the actual process of laying out adds no value to the steel. It is only the subsequent processes of drilling/punching/welding, etc., that trans-form the profi le and add value. So here we are with this conundrum: our most expen-sive man adds no value.

So from purely a cost perspective, layout has to be the primary focus. So how do we remove the layout activity from the process of fabricating steel?

Extracting man-hours per tonneToday there are many aff ordable solutions on the market and all of them embrace some

ABOVE With the ongoing improvements in steel fabricating machinery, many

activities that have traditionally been done manually can now be done with some form

of automation


form of automation, essentially CNC fabri-cation. In the realm of beam fabrication, the proven solution for the small to medium fabricator is the single-spindle beam line like the Ocean Avenger. With more than 500 Avengers installed in more than 60 countries worldwide – and more than 30 in-stallations in South Africa – this is the ma-chine that has literally transformed fabrica-tion for steel fabricators that would never otherwise be able to aff ord larger and more expensive multi-spindle beam lines.

It is specifi cally the fl exibility of the sin-gle spindle drill to process the entire spec-trum of steel profi les including angles, base plates, channels, stair stringers, etc., that has made it very attractive to even the smallest of fabricators. Moreover, the abili-ty to tackle the heaviest jumbo columns, as well as large tonnage projects, has allowed the steel fabricator to cast the net to a far wider range of jobs than he had traditional-ly gone after. Because of this, we have seen many small fabricators with exceptional tonnage and revenue fi gures for relatively small shops.

Furthermore, 3D detailing software has become prevalent and aff ordable, and this has simplifi ed importing the data from the detail drawings directly to the CNC ma-chine, essentially eliminating the unneces-sary costly and potentially inaccurate step of laying out the steel. Th is has resulted in signifi cant improvements in productivity, speed and accuracy.

Not only does this type of machine auto-matically layout and drill all the holes, but it also lays out the marks where all the welded attachments are to be fi tted. Th is signifi -cantly speeds up production through the plant and gives the owner confi dence that the parts will fi t in the fi eld. No more layout errors and omissions.

Two other overlooked areas in small fabri-cating shops are workfl ow and material han-dling. Steel is heavy and it takes expensive labour to move it. Th ose fabricators who have taken the initiative and studied the material handling aspect of the structural steel business, using standard time and mo-tion studies, are horrifi ed to fi nd out that as much as 50% of their labour costs go into moving the steel out of raw material stor-age, through the various processes on the shop fl oor and fi nally to fi nished goods.

Obviously, any process that reduces ma-terial handling goes a long way to improve profi tability. Good overhead cranes, con-veyors and other simple steps to introduce systems will greatly reduce the double and triple handling that robs companies of their profi ts.

The futureGoing back to our fi rst ventures into CNC automation back in 2001, our original ex-pectations were that around 10% of the

ABOUT THE AUTHORDanny Steyn is a mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Natal now living in the US. Th rough Ocean Machinery, he and his partner Hunter Fry, have completely rewritten the way that small to

medium fabricators process steel. Steyn has had the privilege of visiting more

than 6 000 steel fabricators around the world, and with over 700 Ocean CNC machines installed worldwide, he has a rare insight into the way fabricators around the world are addressing the ever-increasing issue of labour productivity.

small to medium fabricators would adopt some form of CNC fabrication. Today the picture is signifi cantly clearer. Except for the smallest of shops, small to medium fabrica-tors will have to make the transition to CNC fabrication in order to remain in business. Th ey have no option. It’s no diff erent to the way we had to embrace the fax, cellphones, internet and e-mail, despite how much we might have resisted at the beginning.

It is no longer possible to throw labour at this work and expect to see any profi ts left at the end of the day. Making an invest-ment in your company, its employees and its future will reward you handsomely. And as we all know, the sooner you do it, the sooner you perfect its use and start getting the gains.


ABOVE Nowadays there are several options available to increase the

productivity of the hole drilling process

Processes that reduce material handling go a long way to improve profi tability

Mining equipment


It has taken Van Zyl only seven years to establish his company as a dominant and successful contractor in the North-ern Cape’s booming mining sector.

“I attribute the company’s ongoing growth and success to our core business model, which focuses predominantly on servicing the area’s manganese and iron ore mines. We have established a sound knowledge of these minerals and their typ-ical geological composition, which require abrasive, hard rock application enduring machines to prosper,” explains Van Zyl.

With this in mind, Blue Chip Mining and Drilling (BCM) has focused, with equal fervour, on establishing long-term rela-tionships with equipment solutions and service providers that can meet the appli-cation demand of typical hard rock min-eral projects – particularly with regards to surface drilling. “One service provider,

BLUE CHIP MINING AND DRILLING

A match made in heavenNorthern Cape-based Blue Chip Mining and Drilling has emerged as the regions’

biggest drilling, load and haul, and crushing and screening contractor. This is due

to its ability to identify its clients’ needs and complement them with the best-

suited equipment for the job, says CEO Martin van Zyl.

Sandvik Mining, has proven its ability to meet our large diameter DTH drilling re-quirements. As such, our relationship has

grown and continues to strengthen with momentum, especially since the company established a local branch late last year. Our clients, who include all major mining houses in the area, have shown a prefer-ence for Sandvik drills, particularly the DR580 drill, the company’s biggest seller in the area,” Van Zyl continues.

BCM originally acquired two DR580 (orig-inally named Cubex) drills in 2008, which it

trial tested at Kumba Iron Ore’s Sishen mine. Van Zyl says the machines impressed from the start: “Th ey performed and also fi tted the

size specifi cations of the client.” Th is was the beginning of what has become a very fruitful relationship for both companies.

In addition to the Sandvik drills, BCM was also attracted to the company’s ground en-gaging tools system, which according to Van Zyl off ers extended drill components wear life without compromising on performance. “Th e man-machine interaction is also impressive.”

Growing togetherIn line with its own growth strategy, BCM recently took delivery of three new Sand-vik DR580 surface drill rigs, taking its Sandvik Mining drill complement up to 11 machines in total. All are based and op-erate at the Sishen mine or the Assmang/African Rainbow Minerals’ jointly owned Khumani iron ore mine.

“Sandvik drill specs are all perfectly suit-ed to hard rock applications because they are built and designed for endurance. They are also economical in terms of cost, and their delivery turnaround time is quick as well,” Van Zyl points out.

The recent purchase of three new drills is indicative of the growth Sandvik Mining’s

LEFT Blue Chip Mining and Drilling recently took delivery of three new

Sandvik DR580 surface drill rigs. From the left are: Arne Lewis (vice president: Sandvik

Mining SA) and Martin van Zyl (CEO of Blue Chip Mining and Drilling), with one of

the new drill rigs

The recent purchase of three new drills is indicative of the growth Sandvik Mining’s Northern Cape business unit has seen and is capable of achieving

underground and surface exploration. “We provide drill and blast services (as a registered explosives handler), crushing and screening, load and haul, and reha-

bilitation activities – either individually or as a package,” says Van Zyl. With its own mechanical and maintenance team and facilities, the company today employs 600 permanent staff, of which 81 were

employed during the recession period.Although it focuses predominantly on manganese and iron ore projects in the Northern Cape, it also provides explora-

tion drilling activity for Optimum Coal and has also worked in the chrome industry. Its current client base, in addition to Kumba Iron Ore and Assmang, includes Sedibeng Mining, Kudumane and BHP Billiton.

Mining equipment


Northern Cape business unit has seen and is capable of achieving. “The branch is of-ficially just a year old, and we have already achieved considerable growth, which we intend to continue. We are also thrilled at the response of local customers, like BCM, to the establishment of a dedicated Sandvik branch closer to their operations. These customers have recognised that we are more than just an equipment provid-er – we are a solutions provider that can assist them with finding the most ap-propriate and cost-effective solutions to their unique operational requirements,” says Raymond Grobler, business unit manager of Sandvik Mining’s Northern Cape operations.

“Because our core values are so well aligned, and our objectives for growth are similar, we have earmarked BCM as a stra-tegic partner to work with in future. The company is a major anchor in the North-ern Cape and together we can both benefit from aligning our businesses,” he adds.

Van Zyl notes that Sandvik Mining equipment remains at the forefront of his business when current and future con-siderations will be made regarding new equipment purchases. “The machines meet clients’ expectations.” And the inten-tion to work together as an aligned entity is already under way – the two companies are engaged in preliminary talks with a mining rights holder, which, if success-ful, will bring the two companies even closer together.

As a close working unit, the two compa-nies have also modified a drill component together. “We identified the need for a larger dust hood, which Sandvik modified and provided to us based on our need,” says Van Zyl. “Our relationship is open and transparent, and we believe that together we can jointly find solutions to fit our mining clients’ every need,” Grobler adds.

Who is Blue Chip Mining and Drilling?Although BCM was registered in 2003, it first became operational in 2005, and be-came a fully fledged and diversified service provider and contractor in 2006. The com-pany provides soft services to the mining industry, including mining right applica-tions and inter-government liaison, among others. Its hard core service arm includes

RIGHT From the left are: Raymond Grobler (business unit manager of Sandvik Mining’s Northern Cape operations), Martin van Zyl

(CEO of Blue Chip Mining and Drilling), and Peet Schoeman (business development:

Sandvik Mining Northern Cape)

Sandvik Mining has earmarked BCM as a strategic partner to work with in future

Mining equipment


The agreement, which is eff ective 1 October 2012, forges a strategic partnership between the Jet Park-based company and Sandvik Con-

struction. It is expected that this alignment will be of signifi cant benefi t to local and re-gional mine and quarry operators.

Th e alliance follows an approach by Sandvik Construction for Pilot Crushtec to take over the regional distribution of its full range of mobile crushing and screening products. Th e major territories that will fall under the dis-tribution agreement will be Southern Africa and all countries to the north as far as Kenya.

“Th ere are a number of sound reasons why Sandvik Construction considered Pi-lot Crushtec as a business partner. Pilot Crushtec has a reputation for being a dy-namic and successful company, an inde-pendent business that is a major player in local and Southern African markets. Th e company has the technical expertise and fi eld service capabilities to support the Sandvik brand and we share similar values about the environment, health and safety,

and most importantly, Pilot has a great at-titude towards serving customers,” says Duncan McGregor, product area president: mobile crushers and screens.

Th ere were some compelling reasons for Pilot Crushtec to take the proposal forward:• It is in perfect alignment with the compa-

ny’s policy of associating itself with world-class brands.

• Sandvik is an engineering company with more than 150 years of experience. Th rough various acquisitions, it is now one of the largest suppliers of crushing and screening equipment globally.

• Th e Sandvik product range includes large capacity mobile products for hard rock mining and quarrying applications. Th is provides Pilot Crushtec customers with an enhanced product selection that, at the top end, off ers far higher productivity than was previously available.

• Th e relationship with Sandvik Construc-tion means that Pilot Crushtec will have full access to Sandvik’s entire mobile range of crushing and screening equipment. Th is

SANDVIK-PILOT CRUSHTEC ALLIANCE

Distributor agreement formalisedPilot Crushtec, South Africa’s leading supplier of

crushing and screening equipment, has signed a

distributor agreement for Sandvik Construction’s

mobile range of products: crushers and screens for

exclusively assigned territories in Africa.

will facilitate the entry of Pilot Crushtec customers into valuable new markets.

“Th is strategic alliance will take us to another level. Some of our customers are looking for a larger and more powerful range of equip-ment, including increased crushing capaci-ties, and we are giving them exactly that to help them grow their businesses,” says San-dro Scherf, CEO of Pilot Crushtec.

By sizing up its range in terms of products and increased output capacities, the new agreement means that the 20-year alliance that existed between Pilot Crushtec and Ter-ex Finlay, which at times contributed up to 45% of Pilot Crushtec’s business, has ended. Scherf emphasises that Pilot Crushtec will continue supporting current users of Terex Finlay products, namely: • Pilot Crushtec will continue to sell Terex

Finlay equipment until its stock is depleted.• Th e company will do its utmost to have a

constructive and proactive termination with Terex Finlay.

• All Terex Finlay warranties will be honoured.• Pilot Crushtec will continue to off er full

support on all of its products. • Terex Finlay spare parts represent a sig-

nifi cant part of Pilot Crushtec’s business, and the company will continue to grow its spares off ering and support.

“Th is is a wonderful opportunity. We are ex-tremely excited about our association with a great international brand that opens the door to a much wider selection of the highest qual-ity mobile equipment,” concludes Scherf.

The Sandvik range distributed by Pilot Crushtec includes:

Mid-range mobiles:Jaw crushers: QJ 340, QJ 330: QJ 240Cone crushers: QH 440, QH 330Impact crushers: QI 440, QI 340, QI 240Screen: QA 450; QA 440, QA 430, QA 340, QA 331, QA 240, QA 140Scalper: QE 440, QE 340, QE 330, QE 140

Heavy-range mobiles: Jaw crushers: UJ 640, UJ 540, UJ 440i, UJ 440ECone crusher: UH 640, UH 440i, US 440iScalper: QE 440

Wheeled-range mobilesCone crusher: UH 421, UH 320Impact crusher: UV 320Screen: UF 320

Sandvik’s QJ331 Mobile Jaw Crusher

Environmental preservation

Specifically suited to the harsh conditions prevalent on mining sites, the ABS submersible de-watering pumps are available in

two series, one for drainage (the XJ pump) and the other for sludge (the XJS pump). “The ABS submersible dewatering pump range is the world’s toughest and smartest

‘Intelligent’ meteringEnevold explains that “building the world’s most intelligent dewatering pump” means eliminating electrical control panels. The AquaTronic unit integrates electronic in-telligence into the pump, while the Aqua-

Plug control and monitoring module inte-grates it into the power supply.

As previously highlighted, the direction of impeller rotation is also always correct. This is because the AquaTronic unit elec-tronically compensates for incorrect phase order – a first among dewatering pumps. The AquaTronic u n i t also ensures that pumping with the ABS submersible d e w a t e r i n g pump range starts imme-diately with

NEW INTELLIGENT DEWATERING PUMP

It’s the next generationSulzer Pumps’ recent launch of what has been called ‘the next generation

of dewatering pumps’ was on display at the Electra Mining Conference in

September 2012.

All

photo

s: S

ulz

er

All

photo

s: S

ulz

er

dewatering pump,” says Jonas Enevold, Sulzer Pumps spokesperson.

A tough environmentSurface and underground mining sites are notoriously difficult places to work. Large

volumes of water often need to be removed in order to keep production moving. This, according to the team, is the real world and therefore has necessitated the introduc-tion of a range of dewatering pumps “made for the real world.”

The Sulzer pumping solutionAccording to Enevold, the ABS submersi-ble dewatering pump range offers stable operation, long life and high portability, and is also packed with electronic intel-ligence called AquaTronic and AquaPlug. These two features save energy, reduce wear and allow pump condition to be checked without disassembly. Further major benefits include: • correct motor rotation every time as

the pump electronically adjusts for in-correct phase order

• motor protection as the pump stops in the event of a power overload and/or high temperature

• rapid assessment of operation/fault history through a USB port, which al-lows the pump condition to be checked with a PC, without disassembly

• no control panels required as the built-in pump electronics eliminate tradi-tional electrical panels

• reduced energy consumption and wear as the pump can be set to stop at dry running and start again at a specified level.

The result is a pump featuring electronic intelligence coupled with robust reliability – a pump made for the real world


The XJ pump


When I say I’ll deliver... I deliver!Peter YamanGeneral Manager - Projects/Heavy Lift Division

Together, the Johnson team delivers a SMART liftSafety | Maintenance | Availability | Reliability | Total Cost Effectiveness

Tel: +27 (011) 455 9222 or 0860 CRANES | Fax: +27 (011) 455 9230

Pro

duc

ed b

y C

ora

lynn

e &

Ass

oci

ates

Te

l: (0

11)

42

2-1

949

full capacity and runs consistently. Although the pump can be run continuously, the Aqua-Plug – an optional control and monitoring module – can also be used to stop it when snoring. By stopping at dry running and starting automatically at a specified lev-el, energy use can be optimised and wear can be reduced.

According to Enevold, the inclusion of the AquaTronic unit also prevents unnec-essary servicing. By connecting it to a PC via USB, pump diagnostics can be carried out rapidly and easily without disas-sembly. “Light emitting di-odes easily give the status of the pumps.”

In addition, the AquaTronic unit also has internal software that presents the pump’s service history and can assist in monitoring – and managing – the pump’s perfor-mance over its life cycle.

High performanceA double outer casing and good heat convection further allows continuous operation at low water levels, or even dry running, without water damage. This has been ensured through the use of

robust and reliable materials, with the outer casing cast in alumin-ium, and other cast parts in a lightweight aluminium alloy. The mechanical shaft seals have been cast in silicon carbide.

Additionally, the impeller and adjustable wear-ring’s long life has been ensured through their casting in a high-chrome alloy steel – and the lifespan of the diffuser has also been ensured through the use of an oil-resistant nitrile rubber.

“The result is a pump featuring electronic intelligence coupled with robust reliability – a pump made for the real world,” con-cludes Enevold.

ABOVE The ABS submersible dewatering pump XJ/XJS submersed in water

The XJS pump



The solution to preserve scarce com-modities should also be sustainable, in terms of simplicity of operation, technical back up, professional and

thorough project planning and execution, and cost eff ectiveness – this is where Enpro-tec believes we are making a huge diff erence to the industry and will continue to do so,” says Jacobs.

Enprotec specialises in providing the min-ing industry with individually customised turnkey solutions for the treatment of ul-tra-fi ne minerals. “In industries like coal, ultra-fi ne materials are treated as waste streams. With our specialised technology, we have successfully managed to turn these waste streams into sustainable revenue-gen-erating streams, eliminating slurry ponds and the risk of acid mine drainage. Th ese solutions also constitute into a substan-tial decrease in raw water consumption,” he adds.

Enprotec has proven to be more than just a technology provider. Its expertise and ex-perience in designing, constructing, com-missioning, operating and maintaining of ultra-fi ne coal treatment facilities is what separates the company from its competitors. Th is expertise is backed up by fully function-al lab-scale facilities, through which compre-hensive test work is done, ensuring Enprotec

provides the best customised solutions to fulfi l each client’s needs.

Enprotec’s technological contribution to the industry is based on the Dual Cell Flo-tation System and the Enprotec plate and frame fi lter-press. Th e Dual Cell Flotation System incorporates unique methods of en-ergy transfer, aeration and reagent dosage to achieve a high yielding and extremely ef-fi cient fl otation cell.

Th e Enprotec plate and frame fi lter pro-vides the lowest possible cake moisture by incorporating membrane squeezed and cake-blow functionalities within every cy-cle, thereby increasing water recovery and subsequently decreasing the raw water re-quirements for the operation. Filtering of ultra-fi ne coal has traditionally been per-ceived as a very expensive and complicated process, but the simplicity and aff ordability of the Enprotec plate and frame fi lter proves otherwise. Th e effi ciency and eff ectiveness is evident in the success of installed equipment at various operations.

Th e coal industry has traditionally been pumping ultra-fi ne coal to slimes disposal facilities and even underground, because a process that could sustainably dewater or upgrade that fraction had not been previ-ously available. Besides the negative eff ect these practices have on the environment,

potentially profi table combustible coal is be-ing discarded. With Dual Cell Flotation, the option will be to upgrade the calorifi c value of the coal to a typical 27.5 MJ/kg product, after which the product and tails are dewa-tered, maintaining a zero percent effl uent system. However, the main driver for fi nding solutions for ultra-fi ne coal is not predomi-nantly revenue generating, but rather de-crease the environmental footprint through reduction of raw water consumption and the elimination of slurry ponds.

In 2012, Enprotec completed three major projects, including the Savmore colliery (a 30 tph fl otation and fi ltration plant), Anglo American Th ermal Coal’s Greenside colliery (a 50 tph fl otation and fi ltration plant producing 17 000 tpm export material) and the Hakhano colliery (dewatering and fi ltering 36 tph ul-tra-fi nes). “At Hakhano colliery, our most re-cent project that was commissioned in July, we managed to reduce the water consumption from 43 000 m3 to 8 500 m3. Th e water is re-used in the closed loop process water circuit of the plant, while the fi lter cake is sold for do-mestic power generation,” concludes Jacobs.

Enprotec is also busy with other projects, the most advanced of which is a project at Stuart Coal.

ENPROTEC

Providing turnkey solutions for ultra-fine minerals

To ensure the sustainability of mining operations, mining companies need to seriously consider the preservation and sustainability of their environment and natural resources, such as water, by minimising their environmental pollution and carbon footprint, Jayson Jacobs, operational director of Enprotec, explains to Hans Alink.

ABOVE Greenside colliery fl otation plant

“The lowest operational cost plate and frame filter press by far!!”

ENPROTEC offers the latest technology in plate and frame fi lter press units in the market. With the latest developments in high quality

components, and process technologies, the ENPROTEC plate and Frame fi lter press units offer the lowest possible operational cost.

ENPROTEC’s expertise in the fi eld of solid/liquid separation, or dewatering by means of plate and frame fi lter presses, is unmatched.

Together with ENPROTEC’s plant design and construction capabilities, a unique turn-key solution is provided with guaranteed performance.

Fully automatic 1500 Plate and Frame Filter Press with automatic

cloth wash function

The highest quality PP plates ensures the best amount of cycles be obtained

A wide range of fi lter plates and fi lter cloths is available together all peripheral spares including service contracts

Environmental and Process Technology (Pty) Ltd specialises in the supply of a full range of plate and frame fi lter presses used in the mining andmetallurgical industry.

Tel: +2713 246 1399 • Fax: +2713 246 1070 • [email protected] • www.enprotec.co.za

Gears and motors


O f particular interest is the X3K helical bevel unit, which was designed with the mining in-dustry in mind. It includes the

latest condition monitoring equipment in the form of a temperature feedback probe, the DUO oil analysis sensor and the DUV vibration analysis sensor. Also fitted in the unit is an integral one-directional backstop bearing, which allows for a more compact design of the geared motor. An auxiliary drive was fitted to allow for easy mainte-nance when the drive needs edging. This type of set up allows for better energy efficiency during maintenance when the smaller auxiliary drive can be used instead of the larger industrial gearbox. This type of unit would suit a bucket-elevator-type set up.

One main area of application for SEW industrial gear units is conveyor systems. In this context, the gear units perform reliable service in driving conveyor belts and bucket elevators for the horizontal and vertical transport of bulk material and packages, which makes it very popular in the mining industry. They also run the travel and hoist drive on cranes, or serve as a drive with reinforced bearings for mixers and agitators.

The German drive automation specialist produces the robust X Series units on an independent platform. With their finely graduated size, they cover a torque range of up to 475 kNm. Recently, SEW rounded off the lower power range of this series and is now also offering the proven gear units for the torque range of 6.8 to 475 kNm. The extremely large gear ratio of 6.3 to 450 is evidence that with its X Series, the man-ufacturer has met all the requirements for a complete, comprehensive range of indus-trial gear units.

When it comes to helical and bevel-hel-ical gear units, nearly any mounting

SEW-EURODRIVE

Size matters – and so does service

position or shaft arrangement can be im-plemented. The X Series’ finely graduated sizes and high-power density results in savings in terms of both weight and cost. The large amount of pre-defined accesso-ry equipment creates flexibility in terms of adjusting the unit to each respective application. This includes a wide range of modular options such as motor adapters and mounting flanges, backstops and cool-ing systems, as well as sealing systems for the most varied environmental conditions.

SEW compiles drive packages for the cus-tomers that include industrial gear units, a motor, couplings, brakes and steel frames. In this case, customers benefit from the fact that they can obtain the complete, fully assembled drive package from a single source.

SEW has an engineering department that assists customers with the complete drive package and custom-designed solutions, and a large local stockholding allows for shorter delivery times and more fl exibility.

SEW-Eurodrive displayed its latest intelligent, comprehensive X Series of

industrial gear units at the Electra Mining 2012 exhibition. The robust helical and

bevel-helical gear units cover a torque range of 6.8 to 475 kNm and feature finely

graduated size, variable installation and a wide variety of modular options.

BELOW The X Series unit designed for the mining industry, which was on show at

Electra Mining 2012

Gears and motors

After an increase in demand for packaged solutions, CEO Brian Campbell took the decision to bring the gearboxes, which has

been part of CMG Australia’s product port-folio for over 25 years, to the South African industry,” explains Smith. “While we are still essentially an electric motor compa-ny, the addition of these well-designed and manufactured gearboxes allows us to con-vert our motors into geared motors to off er customers a comprehensive, fl exible, world-class selection of drive solutions.

“We can select off -the-shelf gearbox and motor combination units, allowing us to size, confi gure and couple them to exact demand power and output shaft speed specifi cations within hours. Our extensive

stockholding, coupled to the fl exibility of design, gives us the scope to provide a turnkey solution for varied applications,” elaborates Smith.

Th e current gearbox range, available in 10 sizes from 0.06 to 15 kW with torque ranges from 3 to 2 000 Nm, are worm con-fi guration units with standard hollow shaft casings that allow a single or double output shaft to be fi tted.

According to Smith, with appropriate ser-vices at regular intervals, these units are quite capable of performing for up to 20 years. “And servicing is quick and easy. Th e gearboxes have three rubber seals and one

FLEXIBLE TRANSMISSION SOLUTIONS

Geared up motorsCMG Electric Motors South Africa has added a wide range of flexible transmission solutions to its product portfolio. The off-the-shelf range of worm-geared reducers, helical shaft mounted reducers and associated fittings continue to grow increasingly attractive to the mining industry, says mechanical product manager, Gary Smith.

o thevese

xsizes

orquem, are worm con-

PARTNER MAGAZINENE

MiningNe.ws attracts 22 000 users a month from

A dedicated jobs section on MiningNe.ws Users can

tailor their own news feeds MiningNe.ws

Sign up online for our FREE weekly MiningNe.ws newsletter

The @mining_news tweets

blank closing cap and because the rubber seals will perish long before the bear-

ings are aff ected, the service only requires replacing

the seals and oil. It is only

when a com-plete overhaul is called for that

the two taper roller bearings, the two deep-grooved roller bearings, as well as the seals and the welsh plug are replaced.”

All technical employees receive extensive, professional and ongoing training. “We will make sure that everyone is completely fa-miliar and up to date with the product and stock availability.”

CRT Motor from CMG

Project delivery

The Atlas Copco ACademy is responsible for the in-house skills development of all employees. Through its Apprenticeship and Training in Africa programme, the ACademy provides employees with the knowledge that empowers and inspires them to deliver excellent customer service.

www.atlascopco.co.za

Driving customer service through skills development

Driven by Perkins, Kubota or Vol-vo engines, Atlas Copco’s QAS range of generators are intelli-gent multitaskers that can power

a wide range of electrical equipment in dif-ferent applications, particularly in a mining environment. Reliability in the most adverse and abrasive environmental conditions is ensured thanks to their highly rugged con-struction. Th ese economical units off er a low total cost of ownership and a high resale value. Operation is easy, with a wide range of control modules, electrical settings and me-chanical options. In addition, they operate with minimal noise and emissions.

David Stanford, business line manager: Portable Energy division at Atlas Copco

Construction Technique South Africa, pro-vides an insight into the technical aspects of the QAS generator range: “Th is product range complies with demands for on-site re-liable, uninterrupted power supply, irrespec-tive of the location, application or climate. Th e technology is not only a back-up in the event of a power failure, it is a complete, in-telligent, turnkey power solution.”

Th e generators achieve the best frequen-cy stability at any load level, and deliver and manage continuous power supply to a wide range of electrical equipment for var-ied applications. “In terms of performance, they are accurate and provide stable pow-er regardless of conditions, due to care-fully selected components and accurately

developed and tested confi guration. Th e QAS is a robust generator range, built to last,” comments Stanford.

“We want our clients to see Atlas Copco as a real performance partner that contributes to the productivity of the processes in their business operations by optimising equip-ment availability and product operational life,” he concludes.

ATLAS COPCO GENERATORS

Designed to perform, built to lastReliability in the most adverse and abrasive environmental

conditions is possible with Atlas Copco’s QAS range of generators.

Atlas Copco’s QAS generator

INTRODUCING THE BROADEST PRODUCT LINE IN THE MINING INDUSTRY

Scan here to go to website

Follow us on Twitter@Barloworldequip

Follow us on FacebookBarloworld Equipment Southern Africa

Caterpillar and Barloworld Equipment gives the mining industry access to the broadest line of underground and surface mining equipment in the world - from one source. And behind the great products are the people. A team with over 85 years of experience, innovation and entrepreneurship. And one focus: helping mining customers succeed.

For more information contact our call centre on 0800 21 22 48 or visit www.barloworld-equipment.com

Project delivery

Bell and John Deere have been stra-tegic alliance partners since 1996 when Bell was signed on as John Deere’s construction and forest-

ry dealer for Southern Africa. Later, Deere acquired a stake in the South African manu-facturing company. Underpinning the share-holders’ agreement was a supply and distribu-tion agreement that gave Deere the exclusive right to distribute and support Bell-designed articulated dump trucks (ADTs) in certain markets, including North and South America, under an exclusive distributor mandate.

Deere’s launch earlier this year of its own range of ADTs and confi rmation by Bell that it will continue with the design and manufac-ture of its own successful range of ADTs led to a revisit of the various agreements between the companies. Th e new agreement also al-lows Bell access to the American markets.

Bell chief executive, Gary Bell, believes his company is well positioned going forward. “Apart from our long-standing partnership with John Deere, we have also aligned with other leading manufacturers, including

Bomag and Liebherr, to off er our customers a one-stop shop for quality products.

“We are currently gearing up for the release of our E Series range of ADTs. Th e B30E and smaller truck models will be released in 2013, with the higher capacity trucks following in 2014. Th e B30E was previewed at Intermat showing signifi cant technological advance-ments to deliver better customer value.”

He adds that the company is continuing to do leading research and development. “Th e design is what gives us our edge in an environment where customers are facing increased competition and rising fuel costs. New and upgraded products will ensure that we maintain our technological advantage in the market and give our customers the added benefi ts of higher productivity, greater dura-bility and lower lifetime operating costs.”

Bell and Deere remain firm partners

BELL ARTICULATED DUMP TRUCKS

Bell Equipment and its American strategic alliance partner, John Deere, will no longer collaborate on the manufacture of articulated dump trucks in the Americas, but the relationship between the two companies remains solid in all other regions and aspects.

Bell chief executive, Gary Bell …we are currently gearing up for the release of our E series range of ADTs. The B30E and smaller truck models will be released in 2013 with

the higher capacity trucks following in 2014

WWHHEERREE THHE WWORLD CCOONNNNNNNEEEEECCCCTTTTTSSSSS WWIITTHH AAFRICAANN MMIINNIINNGG.WHERE THE WORLD CONNECTS WITH AFRICAN MINING.

w w w. m i n i n g i n d a b a . c o m

The World’s Largest Mining Investment Conference.

4–7 February, 2013 Cape Town, South Africa

Mention offer code PAIM100 before 18 January, 2013 for US$100 savings!


There have been a few false starts, but ap-proval by Xstrata independ-ent directors of the revised US$33 billion (R284.77 billion) takeover bid from Glencore in early October not only sees the formation of the world’s third-largest mining business in terms of market capitalisation, it also sees the creation of an entity that will hold an impressive 11% share of annual global mined zinc production.

What is more, this deal, in my opinion, truly is the break-ing dawn of the supermajors in the mining industry and undoubtedly will follow the path of the ExxonMobil and Chevron-Texaco in the oil in-dustry. I will wager that we will see a few more transactions like this one in the months and years to come and we will need them – how else will the indus-try stand up against the loom-ing red dragon that wants to consume and control all? One, of course, wonders who will remain once the feeding frenzy is over... we will surely find that, like the oil industry a few years back, the playground will look very different from what it is today.

Dawn of the mining supermajors is breaking

BY WILLEM SMUTS

What does the New Year hold for us?While the madness continues in traditional mining desti-nations in Africa, I am of the opinion that more players will turn elsewhere to newer frontiers. By way of example I quote a comment from a junior miner: “Malawi’s favourable political backdrop, its excellent geological potential and im-proving infrastructure, includ-ing major rail, road and power developments, together with the continued support of the government of Malawi and its Ministry of Energy and Mines, the Mines Department and Ge-ological Survey, provide a very strong basis for development of this important mineral re-source and for our continued growth in the region”.

Diamonds – the crunch is coming: Global production of diamonds amounted to 124 million carats in 2011, and according to a recent report, 13 new mines will add 23 mil-lion carats by end of the dec-ade. Balancing this against the depletion of existing mines, aggregate diamond produc-tion is forecast will increase by 2.8% a year to 2020. But that figure is not sufficient to

Ceterum Censeo

Atlas Copco 52

Barloworld Equipment 53

Bell Equipment 54

BME 17

Booyco Electronics 18

Consulmet 30

DRA Mineral Projects OFC

DRA Mining 5

Enprotec 49

Environ 39

Husqvarna 2

IDC - SBU Mining 35

Ingwenya Minerals Processing IFC

Johnson Crane Hire 47

K’Enyuka 4

Kulkoni-ITS t/a SKOK Machines 40

Mining Indaba 55

Mintek IBC

Osborn Engineering 14-15

Pilot Crushtec 27

RCM Plastics 13

Read Swatman & Voight 10

Sandvik 45

SEW EURODRIVE 9

Steval Engineering 29

Sulzer Pumps Wastewater IBC

Zest WEG Group 23

INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

match forecast demand – a Bain report predicted demand to nearly double by the end of the decade, leaving a deficit of some 28 million carats in the scenario! Although the US remains the largest market for diamonds, the rapid growth of the Chinese and Indian middle classes is expected to have the biggest impact on the equa-tion. In these two countries, the number of households with a disposable income of US$15 000 is expected to rise to about 469 million in 2020 from about 220 million today.

By 2020, Bain predicts that annual production will swell to nearly 175 million carats and surpass peak 2007 pre-crisis production levels, although no new discoveries are expected in the foreseeable future. Diamonds are exceptionally difficult to find, in fact maybe about 1% of kimberlites dis-covered to date have proved to be commercially viable. With this low success rate and a finite number of kimberlites left to explore, Bain believes there is very slim chance of a sudden increase in supply.

In my opinion, I do believe that Bain will be proven wrong as to new discoveries that

could have a significant impact on the industry.

Gold: Analysis from Stand-ard Bank recently suggested that the current gold price of around US$1 780/oz, at the time of writing, factors in around 15 months of quan-titative easing from the US Federal Reserve.

Th at’s not a view shared by everyone, however. Evy Ham-bro of Blackrock was more than happy to go on record with a view that gold will hit US$2 400/oz in 2013, while Rick Rule, the well-known Canadian resources investor now associated with Sprott, has also been expressing his views: “In this environment, all fi nancial assets, including gold, will be very volatile, but gold will do well because the value of currencies will continue to erode. If you look at history, gold does very well in troubled times… Gold is a store of value, it’s a currency and it will con-tinue to outperform fi at paper currencies around the world over time.”

I am fi rmly with Hambro and Rule on this! Enjoy what is left of the holidays and here’s hop-ing to fi nd you reading Ceter-um Censeo again next year...

The Heart of Your Process

The ABS submersible dewatering pump XJ/XJS for drainage or sludge is made for the real world. Its electronic intelligence saves energy, reduces wear and allows pump condition to be checked without disassembly. Combined with the pump’s stable operation, long life and high port-ability, it makes the pump ideal for mines and construction sites.

Built-in intelligence means:• Reduced energy consumption

and wear• Correct motor rotation every time• Motor protection• No control panels required

smartestpumpTheworld’s dewatering

AquaTronic• Ensurescorrectmotor

rotation,irrespectiveofpowerconnection

• AllowspumpconditiontobecheckedviaUSBlink

AquaPlug• Pumpcontroland

monitoring–stopsthepumpwhensnoring

• Providesalarmsformotoroverheatingorpowerfailure

• Indicateswhenserviceisneeded

Sulzer Pumps www.sulzer.com

Tel: 0861 77 22 77email: [email protected]

Visit www.MadeForTheRealWorld.com or scan the QR code to see how you can benefit!

A global leader in mineral and metallurgical innovation

For almost a century, Mintek has been at the forefront of minerals and metallurgical research and development...

Today This cenTre of Technological excellence, with its teams of highly trained and experienced scientists, engineers, researchers,

and specialists, continues to build south africa’s resources and capacity by providing advanced technology for the more effective extraction, utilisation and beneficiation of our mineral wealth.Mintek supplies new technology, process development to pilot-plant scale, and mineralogical and analytical services, to the gold, platinum, base and ferrous metals, uranium and industrial minerals sectors.

Internationally recognised products and services: • advanced process control software to optimise operating efficiencies and reduce costs of milling, flotation, smelting, and leach circuits; • Technologies for the heap bio-assisted leaching of base metals and uranium, and dc arc smelting of ferroalloys and platinum; and • Auditing, measurement, and optimising of cyanide usage on gold plants.

Our expertise lies in: • integrated piloting facilities for process development including comminution; flotation; physical separation; leaching and pressure leaching; smelting; and metal recovery and purification; • analytical services; • Certified reference materials; • Mineralogical investigations; • novel and advanced materials; and • Mineral economic studies.

Facilities: our well-equipped facilities include: • world class laboratory and piloting facilities for process development; • optimisation, scale-up, and data acquisition in support of feasibility studies in the areas of minerals processing, pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy; backed up by • the latest instrumental techniques for mineral characterisation and chemical analysis.

“Your partner in unlocking mineral wealth.”

200 Malibongwe Drive, Randburg, South Africa. Private Bag X3015, Randburg 2125, South Africa.Phone: +27 (011) 709 4111 fax: +27 (011) 709 4326E-mail: [email protected] http:// www.mintek.co.za

inside mining nov/dec 2012

Documents

new levelst h e

benefi t

new mines

nonferrous metalstapping

mining stories

year b2b publishingwww

mining townmining news44

existing mining operations