Modern Mining September 2021

Quality, custom rubber hoses from Weir Minerals Africa’s Alrode facility Weir Minerals Africa is a leading South African producer of high-quality rubber hoses that designs and builds mining hoses for customers, from 50 mm to 1 000 mm nominal bore up to 10 m in length and up to 1 100 mm bends. A decade of investment and experience ensures high lev- els of manufacturing consistency in its custom-engineered products. “Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Alrode, Gauteng, com- prises advanced semi-automated processes to produce both hard wall hoses, soft wall hoses and bends,” says Yatheen Budhu, product man- ager rubber products, hoses and spools at Weir Minerals Africa. “With a decade of investment in semi-automated building equipment and train- ing, we can ensure high levels of safety, manufacturing consistency and quality in our custom-engineered products.” “The safety of our people is our number one priority, and the invest- ment included system improvements in the hose building process protecting our employees from harm at all times,” he says. These hoses are designed to the specifications of customers around the world, using an option of Linatex, Linard, Linagard and Linacure abrasion-resistant internal wear liners. The hard wall mining hose is built for suction and discharge applications, with a heavy spring steel wire helix to cater for high dynamic loads. For discharge applica- tions with no vacuum or suction that could collapse the hose, the soft wall mining hose is usually used as it allows for ease of movement and flexibility. “Among the innovations we have introduced is a wear-indicator sys- tem, for critical applications where unexpected hose failure carries an unacceptable level of risk,” says Budhu. “The wear-indicator system gives operators early warning of wear on the liner, and allows proactive replacement to be planned and conducted.” Weir Minerals Africa’s world class local manufacturing capabil- ity gives a number of benefits to mining companies, he says. These include a quicker lead time and a valuable contribution to Mining Charter compliance. “Having our manufacturing facilities relatively close to our customers also facilitates our engineered-to-order approach,” he says. “We spend time with customers whenever possible – through our comprehensive branch network – to understand their conditions and requirements.” 

Weir Minerals designs and builds hoses up to 10 m in length.

September 2021  MODERN MINING  45