Modern Quarrying October-November 2015

ON THE COVER

with vast African experience. Expat Canadian Gerhard Hurst is heading up the operation and representing the company for bidding and busi- ness development. “We are able to support him from our Business Development division but also supported by the company I represent, which is Afrimat Contracting International.” “We have a contracting company that does contract drill, blast and crush work and we have partially drawn from that resource base in terms of supervisory and managerial staff and equipment, which we have transferred to Mozambique to sup- port the operation. They are providing the services in Cuamba and thus far in Pemba in terms of yellow equipment, loaders, dumpers, drillrigs, generators, etc, and all our in-house manufacturing capacity will be used to preassemble the plants in South Africa and carry them over to assemble and com- mission in Mozambique,” he says. “We have chosen the freight option at this stage to remain flexible and because it is also more inside our knowledge area. We are not really into shipping and ship freight. Obviously that will come into play when we engage in larger 60 t capacity equipment.” At this stage, Afrimat is utilising 30-40 t equipment. Odendaal says the Pemba quarry is Afrimat’s base and from there it services the Cuamba, Mitande and Itepala sites which are near Malawi. The railway line crosses from Malawi into Mozambique. Afrimat has carried out the first phase of a ballast production contract in Cuamba and has moved another unit up to Mitande where it has a contract to supply some 280 000 t of railway ballast stone for Mota Engil, a Portuguese group focused on civil construction, public works, port operations, waste water and logistics. Travel into these areas is a constant for Odendaal and the team, with internet and tele- phone communication on a par with South Africa. The challenges are logistics and bureaucracy on the borders. Using subcontractors for transpor- tation, he says it is not company strategy to be involved in transport in Mozambique. “The fac- tors of risk are too high, the factors of cost are too high, and the local law in these provinces has its own set of rules. We have to move between two or three provinces at a time when our low beds travel between sites, so we are happy to outsource that side of the business. “Obviously this whole Mozambican move is a key strategy for the company,” he says. “Afrimat has a very flat management structure but through that pyramid, we manage this effort very closely. We utilise our corporate jet when going into the remote regions. We also don’t hesitate to use the

The Cuamba stockpile and plant.

commercial airlines, which are a much cheaper option. However, for the sake of convenience and for rapid response, we have a jet available to fly to Cuamba where we can support our staff and their efforts. All checks and balances are done through site visits and we power this up with visits from our senior executives.” Talking further about Gerhard Hurst, he says Afrimat employed him for his relevant experience and business acumen in African projects. Hurst is a professional engineer and business developer and is supported by various seconded personnel from South Africa, which include key drilling, blasting and supervisory staff.“Gerhard’s wife is a very capa- ble administrator, so we have a sound husband and wife team managing local affairs.” Odendaal says Afr imat ’s Contrac ting International division provides a full package of drilling and blasting solutions for the construction and junior mining industries. It offers blast designs for bulk blasting in quarry and opencast mining and specialised restricted blasting in built-up areas.“Our services include mobile crushing, screening, drilling and blasting and bid preparation and contractual services. Using our expertise in fields such as drill- ing and blasting, load and haul, crushing and ready- mix concrete processing, the division prepared bids for major clients in the construction industry. “We strongly believe that the strength of Afrimat has extended its reach to support Mozambique’s growing economy, and we are now laying the foundations for new success by bring- ing world-class African products to more countries in Africa,” he says, reiterating that the company is proceeding cautiously with its expansion into Mozambique. It is taking the rest of this financial year to stabilise this business, install the capacity and get everything up and running. “The moment we start repatriating profits out of there; once profits are available to repatriate, then we can talk about the next move into Africa. We would rather go too slowly and do it properly than rush in and burn our fingers.”

Report by Dale Kelly, photographs courtesy Afrimat

13

MODERN QUARRYING

October - November 2015