Africa, Mining industry relocates and consolidates to gear up for growth

Mining, construction, cranes and road-building equipment supplier Terex Africa has moved into its new multimillion-rand premises, in Kempton Park, north-east of Johannesburg.

The 24 000-m² precinct includes the company’s national office, the Gauteng regional office and warehouse, as well as state-of-the-art workshops.

The new premises enable the company’s rapidly growing workforce to operate under one roof, as the employees formerly worked from four different sites in Sebenza, Jet Park and Edenvale, Gauteng.

“Functioning as a unified unit has enabled us to grow and develop our unique corporate culture and values,” says marketing officer Tammy Davies, adding that the company has gone a long way towards improving internal communication across its various divisions.

She adds that the complex’s modern look and feel will soon be matched with the latest technology, including advanced information technology infrastructure and a new call centre that will streamline processes and further improve customer service.

Meanwhile, the Rustenburg Platinum Mine’s Mogalakwena Section, the single biggest opencast platinum mine in the world, operates the largest fleet of Terex equipment on the African continent.

The operation forms part of Anglo American’s Platinum Division, and mines platinum-group metals (PGMs) from the Platreef on the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex. The Bushveld Complex is the most significant known layered igneous complex of its type in the world, and contains some of the richest chrome and PGM deposits on earth.

Four Terex O&K RH 200 and seven RH 340 hydraulic excavators currently operate on the massive three-pit site, which has a strike distance of 21 km. These have an operating mass in excess of 500 t and are a proven prime profitability factor for the mine, which has enjoyed a close association with Terex since 1992.

“The availability of our shovels is really world class and averages 90% on machines that have worked between zero and 70 000 hours,” says production manager Hendrik van Niekerk.

He states that the arrival of the Terex RH 400 in January 2009, the biggest excavator ever to land on African soil, is expected to boost output still further, and will be used for bulk waste removal.

“We wanted a machine that would shift massive volumes, and expect it to move in excess of 17-million tons per annum,” says van Niekerk.

In addition, Mogalakwena operates a fleet of 16 Terex MT 4400AC and MT 3700AC diesel electric haulers, as well as six TA 30 service vehicles.

Van Niekerk attributes the high usage of Terex equipment at the mine to the exceptional service levels rendered by field service teams. A crew comprising 38 full-time Terex employees is permanently on hand, including highly trained technical staff with years of experience gained working on these units in real mining conditions.

Terex has an on-site satellite store where a large inventory of spare parts is kept, which is especially advantageous in a productivity-driven environment situated some distance from major centres.