Capital Equipment News April 2017

Crushing solutions for mines, from start-ups to majors

Designing and building its own crushing and screening plants, Raubex company B&E International brings over four decades of experience in contract crushing to its mining sector offerings, which are tailor made for applications from small to large. With most major mining firms already on its customer list, B&E International has even developed a solution for start- up miners who may need to conserve their cash-flows in the early days of operation. B&E International MD Dewald Janse van Rensburg says the company’s engineering capability and operational experience allows it to assume some of the start-up risk faced by new mines, by designing and running a plant on a ‘toll’ basis for the customer. “We can design, manufacture and commission a plant to client specifications, and then operate it on a ‘tonnage rate’ for an agreed period of time,” says Janse van Rensburg. “The customer pays for the amount of material processed, without having to pay for the equipment upfront.” This arrangement typically builds the capital value of the plant into the rate- per-tonne, so that the rate ensures the throughput is delivered while the capital portion is steadily paid off.

A coal plant with screens designed and manufactured by B&E International.

“The advantage to the customer is that we carry some of the start-up cost, and they get the assurance that the plant will function effectively as a vital part of the production process,” he says. “Ownership of the plant then reverts to the mine after the capital is repaid through this toll fee; the customer can even decide to buy out the residual value of the plant at an earlier stage, if their cash-flow is good and they are confident of their own in- house expertise.”

B&E International’s roots date back to 1972 when it started operating in blasting and excavating, soon expanding into crushing and screening, and then entering the mining services sector in 1993. It was acquired by the JSE-listed Raubex Group in 2008. Today, it mines some 22 million t a year for some of South Africa’s largest mining companies – as well as crushing, screening and processing about 12 million t a year of ore and aggregates. b