Modern Mining May 2020

Glenn Schoeman, business line manager, crushing and screening, central and southern Africa, at Sandvik Mining & Rock Technology.

Ken Basson, director: plant and engineering at B&E International.

Fernando Abelho, Pilot Crushtec International’s Africa sales manager.

Kim Schoepflin, CEO of Kwatani.

“A key task for our people is to gather accurate information from customers and to process customer feedback. This is entered into the R&D processes to guide our technical and strategic thinking.” On a technical level, the focus on customisation also extends beyond the equipment provided by Sandvik. “In our collaboration with the customer, we look at how our solution can optimise upstream and downstream elements of the process flow. Each technology provider’s input must contribute to the overall efficiency of the comminution process so that customisation impacts the bottom line.” B&E International director Ken Basson notes that customers in commodity sectors such as gold, coal, aggregates, copper and diamonds are experiencing “considerable challenges”. “On the one hand,” he says, “there is downward pressure on revenue as a result of either pricing vol- atility or beneficiation yields while, on the other, they experience ever-increasing input cost escalation.” He says local currency volatility, combined with continuous depreciation against other major curren- cies over time, is proving to be a major cost driver in the mineral processing value chain. “In this context, a vital aspect to consider is the reliability and maintainability of the minerals pro- cessing equipment employed within the mining industry. With the ever-increasing capital cost of equipment, mines are extending the service life of their equipment.” This, says Basson, means that greater emphasis must be placed on preventive and predictive main- tenance philosophies. “This situation has fuelled the need for product customisation, creating equipment that is fit-for-pur- pose, reliable, easily maintainable and suited to our harsh operating conditions in remote locations.” Pilot Crushtec International’s Africa sales man- ager Fernando Abelho says changing operating conditions and the fact that previously un-minable

A bank of customised Kwatani screen in a DMS operation.

resources are becoming viable due to new technol- ogy require customised products which, in turn, call for an extensive understanding of the ore and oper- ating conditions. “The reality is that clients often don’t have the resources to carry out thorough evaluations of their concessions. The cost and time involved in

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