Capital Equipment News January 2023

A motor driven single deck Kwatani screen for the zinc mining industry.

An export order of single deck Kwatani screens for Central Asia.

manufacturer based in Africa. Kwatani is also busy with big contracts in southern Africa, one for a major platinum mine in South Africa and the other for a zinc project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to Schoepflin, the surge in sales reflects not only more buoyant conditions within the global mining industry but also Kwatani’s membership of the Sandvik Group. “We became part of Sandvik at the end of 2021 and this has opened many doors to us,” he says. “We’ve always been big in Africa and were, in fact, already ranked as the biggest screen manufacturer on the continent prior to being acquired by Sandvik but were less strong in certain other parts of the world. Being part of Sandvik has given us improved access to many markets, particularly in South America where Sandvik is the dominant supplier of mining equipment.” Schoepflin also points to the quality of Kwatani’s products as another reason for the skyrocketing demand for its equipment. He adds that the fact that Kwatani’s equipment is manufactured locally is another major plus for the company. “Our manufacturing costs here in South Africa are low by global standards and our exports also benefit from the fact that South Africa’s currency, the rand, is very weak. The result is that our machines are very competitively priced.” b

Kwatanti rented an additional 3 000 m2 of factory space to complement the 17 000 m 2 to be able to keep up with demand.

Some of the orders includes the supply of over 70 screens and associated equipment to a large copper mining operation in Central Asia.

Due to low manufacturing costs in South Africa, the equipment is competitively priced.

Kwatani forms part of Sandvik’s crushing and screening division within Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions.

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