Modern Mining April 2021

MODULAR PLANTS

Is the modular concept exploited to its full potential? The growing appeal of modular plants in the mining industry – largely driven by their lower capital costs, quick lead times and flexibility – has resulted in a growing pool of suppli- ers. As a pioneer of the modular concept, with over 20 years’ experience, Pilot Crushtec International believes that the modular solution is ‘spoken of loosely’ in the industry, and has not been exploited to its full potential. By Munesu Shoko .

M odular solutions are not necessarily new to the mining sector. For decades, these ancil- lary solutions have been used from time to time, but in recent years they have become a staple for operations seeking immediate and long- term crushing and screening gains. The growing popularity of this range has driven many manufac- turers onto the modular bandwagon to capitalise on growing demand. Francois Marais, director – sales & marketing at Pilot Crushtec International, says 90% of local com- minution equipment suppliers, in one way or another, claim to offer a modular range of equipment, but the reality is that very few truly fulfil the idea behind the modular concept. Pilot Crushtec has been at the forefront of the modular revolution for the past 20 years and has mastered the idea behind a true modular concept. For Marais, modular solutions are all about sig- nificantly lowering capital and operational costs compared with traditional bespoke plants, quick

lead times, ease of erection and flexibility, among other attributes. Anything that doesn’t meet these attributes, he declares, does not meet the criteria behind modular. “We have, over the past 20 years, popular- ised the modular concept. We saw an opportunity to help clients who previously spent a lot of time, money and resources on designs and engineering of bespoke plants, when in fact they could benefit from standardised solutions that are much easier to turn around, easier to maintain and don’t require as much planning,” says Marais. “We started by designing some standard modules which included all the crushing stages – primary, secondary and tertiary – encompassing jaw crush- ers, cone crushers, vertical shaft impactors (VSIs), horizontal shaft impactors (HSIs), feeders and hop- pers, a whole range of standardised equipment that could be interchangeable in a plant set up and could literally be configured like a Mechano or Lego set,” he adds.

Francois Marais, director sales and marketing at Pilot Crushtec.

The Pilot Crushtec Modular range is quick to install and easily configurable.

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24  MODERN MINING  April 2021