Modern Mining October 2025

Yatras emphasises that a cornerstone of Sandvik Rock Processing’s strategy in Africa is the service underpinning its solutions, with the company investing in developing its people and capabilities to support the installed base. This includes successful graduate training programmes, such as the initiative in West Africa where young engineers and technicians are being developed to strengthen the skills pipeline for the future. This aligns with the crucial focus on process optimisation, where technical teams work closely with customers to address specific challenges and identify opportunities to enhance plant performance and reduce total cost of ownership. “We have made significant progress across all our territories, bringing our expertise and infrastructure closer to customers to support our expanded range,” she says. “Our growing knowledge base enables deeper application analysis and more precise solution specification, which is embedded in our DNA and integrated into our recruitment, training, and competence development.” She notes that this approach paves the way for improved performance and efficiency in customer plants. In a recent project, for example, Sandvik Rock Processing developed 25 different flow sheets to refine the solution. “This enabled us to identify an option that required fewer crushers than a competitor had proposed,” she explains. “We met the customer’s objectives with fewer machines, resulting in both lower capital expenditure and reduced operating costs.” One of the sales areas experiencing increasing demand is the company’s range of mobile crushing and screening equipment. This surge, she notes, has been fuelled not only by increased demand from mining operations but also by infrastructure projects and contractors seeking rapid, flexible solutions. The appointment of distributors in South Africa in 2024 has further accelerated this momentum. “Our partners have an in-depth understanding of the market and our customers, and they have extended our service coverage to support the equipment locally,” she says. “This has broadened our reach and enhanced our responsiveness. We have also focused on bundling recommended spare parts with each unit and ensuring service capability is in place from day one.” She believes mobile crushing will play an increasingly important role, whether in supplementing process plant crushing and screening depending on the customer needs. The appeal of mobile units, she notes, lies in their versatility: mining customers use them to complement fixed plants, while contractors deploy them for infrastructure projects and also on-site mining crushing projects. In response to

Sandvik mobile crushing and screening solutions are engineered for versatility and durability, helping customers achieve consistent production in the toughest conditions.

The Sandvik UJ443E jaw crusher is built for tough quarry applications, delivering high performance and durability in demanding conditions.

rising demand, ensuring stock availability has become a key priority for the company. Innovation is further driving demand for mobile crushers, with Sandvik Rock Processing set to deliver its first fully electric-powered mobile crusher into Africa later this year. “We are seeing growing interest in electric units, that have both electric and diesel power capabilities, particularly from mines investing in cleaner energy efficient equipment,” says Yatras. “They align perfectly with operations aiming to cut emissions as part of their sustainability agenda. Beyond the environmental advantages, electric drives are also simpler and more efficient to maintain than diesel engines, with a lower total cost of ownership for our customers.” Turning to the company’s range of attachment tools, such as rock breakers, she notes a more strategic approach. With applications ranging from fixed booms at crusher feeds to mobile units deployed in-pit after blasting, these tools were once sold on an ad hoc basis. Today, they are an integral part of the company’s comprehensive solutions offering for mining. “We are not waiting for sales to come to us,” she says. “We are actively pursuing this business in the mining sector and supporting the aftermarket through our Africa footprint.” Yatras concludes that the integration across the expanded product range enables the company to tailor solutions more effectively, allowing her teams to recommend the optimal options for each customer’s specific needs. n

OCTOBER 2025 | www.modernminingmagazine.co.za  MODERN MINING  33