Modern Mining April 2020

CONTRACTING

steel, roads and turnkey construction. These skills and capabilities are complemented by the company’s Level 1, 54% black-owned and 23,2% black women-owned status, as well as its CIDB 9CE, CIDB 9GB and CIDB 9ME grading. Meanwhile, the group’s intense focus on main- taining high SHERQ standards are supported by its ISO 45001:2018 Health and Safety; ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management; ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management and ISO 3834: part 2 Welding of pipes systems. Stellar track record M&D Construction Group’s stellar track record in delivering oil and energy infrastructure for lead- ing companies, including Total and Transnet, while working alongside prominent consulting engineer- ing firms, such as Kantey & Templer Consulting Engineers, SiVEST and VGI Consulting, on these projects also demonstrates its appetite for complex projects. Moreover, the group is also an approved vendor for Sasol for which it is currently tendering for work, while its wholly-owned Mozambique office, which will be up-and-running in three months’ time, is posi- tioned to participate in the large liquid-natural gas (LNG) projects in the country. For example, the group is currently bidding for work on one of the largest greenfield LNG facilities to have ever been approved. It is an extensive under- taking that entails building infrastructure to extract gas from a field offshore northern Mozambique, pumping it onshore and liquefying it, ready for fur- ther export by LNG tankers. This is in addition to a project that will produce, liquefy and market natural gas and that will consist of the construction of onshore facilities, including two LNG trains with a total capacity of 15,2-million t per year. “We have also recruited seasoned oil and energy infrastructure specialists to operate this company. They are both former employees of one of South Africa’s largest construction companies with exten- sive experience working in Mozambique. M&D Construction Group is also actively pursuing and engaging individuals who have left South Africa to bolster the group’s ranks. We are in a position where we can handpick the ‘best of the best’, considering our solid track-record and history,” Raghubir says. Some of M&D Construction Group’s milestone projects in the oil and energy infrastructure market include successfully completing the civil works for three 6 500 m³ jet fuel storage tanks at OR Tambo International Airport and the upgrade of the fire- fighting system at the ORTAFS. Moreover, the group upgraded the fire-protection system at Transnet’s Kroonstad and Alrode Fuel Depots; constructed a pressure-reducing station and internal gas pipeline on behalf of PFG Building Glass;

of the entire group,” he says. “This means that we compete directly against four larger multi-disciplin- ary companies.” The restructured group comprises an Infrastruc­ ture Division, which is being headed by Niekie Wagener; a Pipelines Division, led by Junaid Kathrada; an Oil & Energy Division, for which the act- ing head is Peter Naidoo; and Special Projects, with Chris Porter at the helm in an acting capacity. Safety Health Environment Risk & Quality (SHERQ) operations are being managed by Lance Cox, Human Resources by Yolanda Sedibe, Finance by Gavin McAlpine, Commercial by Chris Porter and Admin by Adrienne Kloppers. The board comprises Raghubir, Andrew Murray as chairman and Yolanda Sedibe as group director. In addition to surface mining infrastructure, the group’s project capabilities include constructing steel, oPVC, GRP, HDPE and ductile iron pipelines for the oil, gas and water infrastructure markets. This is in addition to building concrete structures, especially water retaining types; water and wastewater treat- ment plants; as well as reservoirs and pump stations. Moreover, the company is skilled and expe- rienced in earthworks and sliding, as well as mechanical, electrical and instrumentation, structural

One of M&D Construction Group’s core capabilities is the construction of surface infrastructure for mines.

Key takeaways  M&D Construction Group has in recent years established a formidable presence in the mining and metals infrastructure market in the SADC region  One of the group’s milestone mining infrastructure projects is a R300- million contract to build various civil structures, access roads, parking, kerbing, concrete pavements and drainage for Black Mountain Mining’s Gamsberg Concentrator Project in Aggeneys  M&D Construction installed an 18,4 km, 324 mm diameter steel raw-water pipeline at Northam Platinum’s Booysendal UG2 North Mine  M&D Construction Group successfully completed the civil works for Coal of Africa’s Mooiplaats operation in Ermelo. 

36  MODERN MINING  April 2020