Modern Mining March 2021

COVER STORY

JMH Equipment offers a wide range of aftermarket drifter parts. ‘Africa-proof’ drilling solutions for contract miners

JMH Equipment reports that its Soosan CSM range of hydraulic crawler drills, previously JUNJIN CSM, has proved to be popular among some of the biggest mining contractors in southern Africa due to its competitive pricing, durability and ease of maintenance. The company’s complementary aftermarket drifter spare parts for all major OEMs’ drill rigs also offer mining contractors a cost- effective, yet quality alternative, writes Munesu Shoko .

of Soosan in the market , we can only grow our market footprint further. We already have a growing base of satisfied customers in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, and the aftersales service to match this good product.” While the market for new capital equipment has been slow in the past two to three years due to low commodity prices, Holtzhausen has seen a major improvement in business activity this year. “We have had some serious enquiries from contractors oper- ating in the Rustenburg area, for example, where several new opencast mines have been opened recently,” he says. Three models JMH Equipment offers three hydraulic crawler rig models, the JD-800, JD-1300E and JD-1400E. The JD-800 is the smallest in the range, offering a hole range of 64 mm to 102 mm. The mid-size JD-1300E offers a hole range of 76 mm to 115 mm. The JD1400-E is the latest and most favoured model in the range with a 400 – 490 cfm GHH Rand compressor, Yamamoto YH135 drifter and a hole range of 89 mm – 127 mm. It is fitted with a Cummins CTAA8.3 or QSL9 engine, which is war- ranted by Cummins Southern Africa, as well as Kawasaki hydraulic pumps. Its powerful dust collec- tor, fitted with four filters, has a suction capacity of 40 m³ per minute. It also comes with a Turnstile type auto-rod charger which can carry six rods with an auto-grease to lubricate the rods at the push of a button from inside the cab. The cabin is ROPS and FOPS certified with an air conditioner for maximum operator comfort. A key competitive edge of the range is the price. The machines are competitively priced against some of the premium offerings in the market, yet they offer the same quality, durability and performance, if not better. According to Holtzhausen, the range comes at about 10 – 15% less than some of the premium offerings in the market. Another key selling point for the range is that it is easy to maintain, which makes it ideal for Africa, where technical skills are a challenge for many com- panies. In fact, most of JMH Equipment’s customers service their own machines. “With the mechanical

J MH Equipment has been supplying a Korean made range of hydraulic crawler drill rigs since 2007 in southern Africa. A total of over 50 drills have been delivered to customers operating in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana over the years. The Soosan CSM range, previously known as JUNJIN CSM, has since gained significant popu- larity among major drilling contractors operating in the region. Some of the names that come to mind include Benhaus Mining, Minetech Botswana, Mabunda Blasting, Coronado Mining, E3 Mining, Eire Contractors, Domino Blasting, Rosh Pina Namibia and Limeco CC Namibia. Maurits Holtzhausen, MD of JMH Equipment, believes that, following Soosan’s acquisition of JUNJINCSM, the brandwill leverage the trusted name of Soosan in the market for further growth. “In 2018, JUNJIN CSM sold the company to Soosan, where- after the factory name changed to Soosan CSM,” explains Holtzhausen. “Although no changes were made to the company, product and staff, I believe that with the favourable name and service record

With the mechanical layout and absence of computers, the drills are easy to maintain, ensuring minimum downtime for drilling operations.

10  MODERN MINING  March 2021