Modern Mining April 2022

MODULAR PLANTS

Kwatani expands international footprint

Vibrating equipment specialist Kwatani’s steady growth into international markets has been given a significant boost following its acquisition by Swedish multinational engi neering company, Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions, a division of the Sandvik Group. By Nelendhre Moodley .

K im Schoepflin, CEO of Kwatani, tells Modern Mining that technology leader Sandvik was seeking a partner for its vibratory equip ment business and showed great interest in Kwatani’s technology, including its intellectual prop erty (IP), local content offering and expertise while Kwatani was looking for opportunities to expand its international footprint. “Sandvik has a reach into 160 countries and this

Kwatani brand remains unchanged and will continue to be used across Africa while

products sold inter nationally will be

Kim Schoepflin, CEO of Kwatani. sold through the Sandvik sales channels under t he Kwa t an i product name. Commodities boom – a driver for modular plant demand The commodities boom is a key driver for modular plant demand, given the significant benefits they offer. They can be produced easily and speedily to meet production demands from mining houses look ing to benefit from favourable commodity prices. The vibrating equipment specialist reports an increase in its equipment demand across all com modity types including gold, diamonds and coal. “Mining houses looking to take advantage of strong commodity prices have turned to Kwatani’s vibrating equipment solutions to lift production capacity for their modular plants. When compared to traditional methods of increasing production, modular plants are ideal as they can be manufac tured quickly to ramp-up to the upscaled production rate. Often modular plants are designed on portable skids as self-contained units that can be stacked or arranged in different formations to add to specific plants,” explains Jan Schoepflin. The development of new processing plants car ries a hefty price-tag while modular plants on the other hand are more affordable, particularly for medium-to-small scale miners, as they carry lower capital costs and offer high returns on investment and improved cost to recovery ratios. Aside from the faster lead times to production, modular plants are constructed off-site and do not interrupt or shut down existing operations. As most mining operations are situated in remote and difficult to reach locations, a further advantage of modular plants is that they are designed to be transported and custom designed to meet the exact process requirements the plant will need to process. “Providers of modular plants are able to custom ise the self-contained units easily, using in-house expertise and sourcing high-quality key equipment

partnership offers Kwatani the oppor tunity to increase our reach even further,” she says. Aside from having a firmly estab lished local and African footprint, Kwatani, the home-grown original equipment manufacturer (OEM), has been expanding its global market reach over the years and currently exports products to over 54 interna tional destinations. According to Kwatani GM Jan

Kwatani’s steady growth into international markets has been given a significant boost following its acquisition by Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions.

Schoepflin, the vibrating equipment manufacturer is establishing its footprint in key mining destinations, including Canada, Australia and North America, and recently supplied its first vibrating unit for a modular sorter plant to a copper operation in Brazil. Going forward, the company plans to leverage off its exten sive reference base across blue chip mines and this initial foray into Latin America. Even with the recent acquisition by Sandvik, the

A Kwatani screen operating in a modular plant.

44  MODERN MINING  April 2022