Modern Mining March 2016

COMPANIES

Joint venture to target DRC’s underground mining market Underground mining and shaft-sinking specialist Murray & Roberts Cementation and EGMF, part the Forrest Group, have teamed up to form a new company – Cementation Mining Company – which will target underground mining projects in the DRC. Modern Mining spoke to Allan Widlake, Business Development Executive of Murray & Roberts Cementation, at this year’s Mining Indaba to learn more about the new joint venture.

M urray & Roberts Cementation, of course, is one of the iconic names of the mining indus- try with a global reputation for its underground mining skills. It is based in Johannesburg but has sis- ter companies in North and South America and Australia. The Forrest Group, for its part, is extremely well known in Central Africa. It is active in many sectors of the DRC’s economy, frommining, infrastructure build and electrical contracting through to banking and agriculture. Says Widlake: “This is an exciting develop- ment for Murray & Roberts Cementation. We are certainly not strangers to the DRC but generally in the past we’ve entered the country to work on specific projects and then exited on the con- clusion of each contract. The new partnership with EGMF – which is essentially the civils, road-building and open-pit mining contracting arm of the Forrest Group – will give us a per- manent presence in a country which we regard as one of the most important in Africa in terms of the potential it has for underground mining.” He adds that EGMF’s deep knowledge of operating in the DRC – in terms of clients, the legal system, logistics and similar issues

– will be a major benefit to the joint venture. EGMF will also be responsible for most of the administration that the company will need, meaning that Murray & Roberts Cementation will generally only need to commit permanent personnel to the DRC on a project by project basis.

The history of EGMF (Enterprise Générale Malta Forrest) dates back to the early 1920s when company founder Malta Forrest arrived in Africa from New Zealand. He established a transport company in Kolwezi, and this was the beginning of the present Group which reportedly ranks as the DRC’s leading private employer. It has offices not only in the DRC but also Belgium, Kenya and South Africa. EGMF is based in Lubumbashi, the capital of Katanga Province, in the heart of the DRC Copperbelt and this will serve as the base for the new joint venture company. A big plus is that EGMF’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) is Nick James, a South African mining engi- neer (he graduated from Wits) with a long and distinguished record in the Southern African mining industry. His previous positions have

Allan Widlake, Business Development Executive, Murray & Roberts Cementation.

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