Modern Quarrying October-November 2017

AT THE QUARRY FACE WITH SPH-K

mine limestone for the then Anglo-Alpha in Saldanha in the Western Cape. SPH- Kundalila continued to expand its service offering and geographical base during the ensuing years. In 1997, the company ventured into commercial aggregate quarrying and acquired a hard rock aggregate quarry in a joint venture with the Raubex Group in 2001. This eventually led to Raubex acquiring SPH Kundalila in 2007 when it listed on the JSE. The company is a full subsidiary of the Raubex Group – an affil- iation which provides it with access to capital and to leading engineering skills within the industry. SPH Kundalila supplies material han- dling solutions to themining industry with an excess of well over 300 items of earth- moving equipment, including back-up capacity. Interestingly, the company is the largest owner of Cat 950 front end loaders in the Southern Hemisphere and is spread across South Africa from Aggeneys in the Western Cape, to Saldanha, Malmesbury and Moorreesburg on the West Coast. It operates in Carletonville, Klerksdorp, the Orkney region and in Thabazimbi, Pilanesberg and Rustenburg in the North. The company’s clients include most of the blue chip mining companies and it prides itself on its long-term partnerships. SPH Kundalila has a large modern

The sand deposit at the quarry is in the region of about 3-million m 3 with the life of mine being some 15 years at this stage. “We are fortunate in that our sand is a very high quality material with low water demand. It is very clean,” he says. The mine produces road stone in the var- ious sizes, concrete stone, base and sub- base, together with crusher sand. “Our material is laboratory tested for its quality in our own laboratory together with an independent laboratory on a reg- ular basis.” People are the foundation of the SPH Kundalila group, and this is certainly evi- dent in the five people on site, some of whom have worked for the company for 20 years. To date, equipment on site consists of a 325D excavator, two 95H front end load- ers, an ADT and a Bell B18 D water tanker. “Yes, we do have challenges, but it is my aim to bring this sand mine from its infancy to adulthood, while ensuring that we make a profit in a sustainable and envi- ronmentally friendly manner,”Martin says. A proven track record Looking back at the history of the SPH- Kundalila group, in 1969, two entrepre- neurs – Tony Petter-Bowyer and Alan Carnegie – started up the business. The company initially secured a contract to

Aspasa awards: Danny de Villiers, group HSE manager at Raubex, takes the award for SPH Kundalila being the Top Performing Group. His team achieved the highest average score out of 13 participating quarries (courtesy Aspasa).

Proud SPH-K Kersfontein mine manager Jean Martin.

Owned and operated by SPH Kundalila, the Kalbaskraal sand mine is a relatively small operation at the moment (courtesy SPH-K).

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MODERN QUARRYING

October - November 2017