MechChem Africa July-August 2022

⎪ Minerals processing and materials handling ⎪

Weir Minerals Africa benefits as mining surges

Weir Minerals Africa continues to perform strongly, more than maintaining its share of theAfrican market while moving into new geographies on the continent, such as Nigeria.

a blademill, aswell asWarman ® slurry pumps. The vibrating screens for the project, which is due to be commissioned shortly, include two massive 51 t double-deck banana screens manufactured in South Africa. Govender says amajor focus area forWeir Minerals Africa is sustainability. “When we talk about sustainability, we’re talking about reducing energy consumption, saving water and cutting emissions across every aspect of our operations, including our offices and manufacturing plants,” he explains. “We’re making good progress with this in South Africa. Our foundry inGqeberha, for example, has recently receivedadivisional award for its water harvesting initiative. “We’re also, of course, prioritising energy savings in our products, allowing them to run more efficiently and with lower consumption without productivity being compromised.” He adds that the Enduron ® HPGR technology can achieve energy savings of up to 40% in crushing and grinding, which are traditionally amongst themost energy intensive processes in mining. Govender emphasises that Weir Minerals has a continuous programme of investment in digital technology and points to its Synertex ® Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platform as a major step forward for the company, allowing data from machines to be captured and analysed, with the major benefits being energy optimisation, reduced maintenance and enhanced productivity. www.minerals.weir

states. “We already have a considerable local manufacturing capability at our Alrode and Isando premises in Johannesburg and our Heavy Bay Foundry in Gqeberha, but there is scope for this tobe expanded.We have a team looking at the options right now.” Weir Minerals Africa provides products and systems for slurry transportation, mine dewatering, crushing and grinding, classifica tion and separation, wear lining, corrosion protection and tailings management. Among its world-class brands areWarman ® , GEHO ® , Cavex ® , Enduron ® , Trio ® , Linatex ® and Isodry™. The range of equipment available enables WeirMinerals Africa to provide its customers with integrated solutions addressing every part of the minerals cycle. While the South African market remains an integral part of the company’s business, the rest of Africa is becoming increasingly important and now accounts for over 50% of revenue. “We’re seeing good growth in the SADC region and in West Africa, and we can also report a significant turnaround in East Africa and Central Africa, notably Tanzania and the DRC respectively,” Govender notes. “We’re also excited to have secured our first major order in Nigeria.” The Nigerian order – for an iron ore proj ect – is substantial and has seen the supply of equipment for screening, washing, grinding andpumping. Theorder includes Trio ® jawand cone crushers and apron feeders, Enduron ® vibrating screens, an Enduron ® high pressure grinding roll (HPGR), Trio ® coarsewashers and

A ccording toRajenGovender, interim RegionalManagingDirectorofWeir Minerals Africa, the company has a healthy order book. “The current surge in commodity prices has given the min ing industry a big boost, which has led tomine owners pushing up production from existing facilities and to new projects being approved. As a supplier of a wide range of minerals pro cessing equipment, we’re obviously benefit ting from this upturn in activity.” He adds that Weir Minerals Africa, like most suppliers, is susceptible to the current global shipping constraints that have arisen as a result of the COVID pandemic and other contributing factors, but says the company is managing this problem in close association with its customers to ensure minimal impact on their processing operations. “These constraints have also led us to look at a greater degree of local manufacture,” he Rajen Govender, Interim Regional Managing Director of Weir Minerals Africa.

Left: A double deck Enduron banana vibrating screen manufactured at the Weir Minerals facility in Alrode. Right: The Synertrex monitoring room at the Weir Minerals Isando facility captures and analyses data from customer sites.

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