Modern Mining June 2018

COMPANIES

Reagent experts spread wings through Africa and abroad

facility – which includes milling, flotation, sedimentation, leaching and analytical equip- ment – allows the accurate benchmarking of alternate reagent suites against each other, to find the optimal solution for a client’s particu- lar metallurgical conditions. “Mining projects in the DRC forged ahead by 2009, despite the financial crash the year before, giving Axis House the opportunity to address the burning need for effective reagents, especially in the light of plummeting copper prices,” said Stubbs. “Later that year we also acquired a metallurgical laboratory in Sydney, Australia, and a R&D laboratory in Melbourne.” Clients were urgently needing reagents that could float their minerals at a good return; the focus was therefore not just on an affordable price per tonne of chemicals, but on the actual impact those reagents would have on a mine’s bottom line. The approach, she said, was to listen carefully to the problems that clients were describing; being located close enough to the clients’ sites, the company was able to visit fre- quently and develop a detailed understanding of clients’ processes and challenges. “After spending months and years on cli- ents’ mines in various parts of the DRC, we realised that many sites were experiencing similar problems – which we addressed in our

Reagent technology management specialist Axis House is taking its solution-finding expertise beyond its initial com- modity focus in copper, and extending its footprint across Africa and into South and North America.

S tarting in 2001 as a chemical sup- plier to the main copper mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Axis House transformed quickly from essentially a logistics company to a solutions-focused service pro- vider with specialised expertise and facilities. “The main change for us came in 2005, when the mining sector in the DRC saw an influx of new players and a range of brownfields and greenfields operations being developed,” said Justine Stubbs, Group General Manager of Axis House. “For us, this market shift called for a more value-added proposition from us, and we were well placed with a firm operational base in the DRC already. Clients needed more than a supply chain; they needed access to the latest developments in flotation technology.” The company started a flotation labo- ratory in Cape Town, where founder and Managing Director Trevor McLean-Anderson is based; here, it employs minerals experts that could offer a high level of technical and scientific input to clients. This fully-equipped

Trevor McLean-Anderson (in the foreground), Manag- ing Director of Axis House, pictured in the company’s flotation laboratory in Cape Town.

Cape Town laboratory,” she said. “We replicated our test- work with the chemicals that we had brought to the mar- ket, and went to plant trials – slowly growing this part of our business until it became one of our key focus areas.” This is one of the aspects that has kept the business close to clients – as the relationship is based on problem-solving rather than solely chemical supply. “This sets us apart from many of our competitors,” she said. “Not only can we do the research in our own labo- ratories with our own trusted experts, but we also have the manpower close to site who

46  MODERN MINING  June 2018