MechChem Africa November-December 2020

Coal mines need lower costs, raised productivity Kwatani partners with majors and junior miners alike, offering two distinct equipment ranges tailored to each segment’s specific requirements and capital budgets. With over 44 years of local and global experience, this vibrating screen specialist has a strong product footprint. Frengelina Mabotja, capital sales engineer at Kwatani, talks about the company’s offering to the coal industry.

D espite South Africa’s energy sup- ply being heavily reliant on coal, weak prices and more demand- ing mining conditions are putting pressure on coal mines and their suppliers to do more with less. “Coal prices are low and any recovery in the short term is very unlikely,” says Frengelina Mabotja, senior metallurgist and capital sales engineer at vibrating screen specialist, Kwatani. “Going forward, as coal seams with more overburden have to be mined, surfaceminingwill potentiallybecome much more expensive.” Adding to the coal industry’s challenges is the unwillingness of many lenders to fund new coal plants and expansions, leading to great uncertainty. The result is a strong drive for ongoing cost reduction and increased productivity across both majors and juniors in the sector, says Mabotja. “WhilemostofSA’scoalsupplyisproduced

by a handful of major mining houses, Eskom has in recent years sought to develop the ju- nior market with black ownership,” she says. “Kwatani partners with majors and junior miners alike, offering two distinct equipment ranges tailored to each segment’s specific requirements and capital budgets.” With its 44years of local andglobal experi- ence, Kwatani provides customised, cost ef- fectiveprocessingsolutionsformines’specific needs. She notes that vibrating equipment requirements can vary significantly between a smaller-scale junior miner and a long-life major. This is in terms of the equipment’s size, operating lifespan, tonnage throughput, efficiency and yield requirements. “Apart fromthe initial capital expenditure, mines’ process equipment has an enormous influence on their production efficiency, tonnage and operating cost,” she says. “Our long-lasting, robust vibrating screen and feeders are designed for continuous tonnage

throughput and high efficiency. This reduces the processing cost per ton and the overall cost of the machine over its lifetime.” For the large mine segment, Kwatani’s designs have included high capacity and performance screens such as its 4.3 m wide banana screen. Its brute force grizzly feed- ers for run-of-mine (ROM) operations are capable of sizing and feedingmaterial at up to 2 000 tph, even from high drop-heights. “Our engineering team has optimised the structural integrity, weight distribution and lifespan of this equipment,” says Mabotja. “We have many of our 4.3 m wide banana screens operating at the largest opencast coal complex in the world.” At the same time, Kwatani supplies screen- ing equipment below 2.4 mwide for smaller- scale, modular plants processing up to 250 tph. These units are tailored to budget and provided within short delivery times. www.kwatani.co.za

A robust grizzly coal screen designed and manufactured in South Africa by Kwatani.

10 ¦ MechChem Africa • November-December