In the challenging environment of open pit mining, efficient water management is crucial to maintaining operations and ensuring the safety and productivity of the site. IPR (Integrated Pump Rental) stands out as a key partner for surface mines, offering customised dewatering solutions designed to meet the specific needs of each site.

Managing director, Lee Vine says by conducting thorough assessments and providing correctly specified equipment, IPR ensures that mines can rely on effective and dependable dewatering systems. “IPR’s approach begins with a detailed assessment of each individual application. This involves understanding the unique conditions and requirements of the mine such as water volume, pit dimensions and site-specific challenges,” Vine says.

By doing so, this leading dewatering pump solutions provider can recommend the most appropriate equipment and strategies for dewatering, ensuring optimal performance and cost efficiency. The backbone of IPR’s dewatering solutions is its extensive range of high-quality dewatering pumps and accessories.

Pump solutions

This includes the well-known Atlas Copco range of diesel driven and submersible pumps with the company being the Master Distributor across southern Africa for this dependable brand. The company also represents the Toyo range of heavy-duty slurry pumps.

Hytec South Africa’s Northern Cape branch has relocated from Kuruman to Kathu. The move, which took place in February, brings the branch closer to its client base enabling the company to improve service delivery to traditional mobile and onsite mining customers across the province.

The branch, now located at Unit 4, Bestwood Office Park in Kathu, provides its customers with a comprehensive suite of services, including service and repair, as well as hydraulic hose and fitting assembly. In addition to these services, the branch offers an extensive product range featuring hydraulic valves, pumps, motors, gearboxes, electronics, maintenance tools, cylinders, and manifolds.

Colin Simms, Regional Manager, Northern Cape, expressed excitement at the branch’s move to the current location. “This new location perfectly positions the branch to keep stock allowing us to provide products and services to our Northern Cape customers efficiently and reliably with fast turnaround times,” he says.

Hytec South Africa is one of the leaders in the design, manufacture, installation, service and repair for total mobile and industrial hydraulic solutions, and is one of Africa’s largest hydraulics specialist.

Safe, sustainable and quality blasting came under the spotlight in Kathu, Northern Cape, on 10 July 2024, as BME invited customers for a deep dive into the productivity potential within its blasting ecosystem.

According to Nishen Hariparsad, BME’s General Manager for Technology and Marketing, the technical summit allowed BME to share its blasting ecosystem with customers, developed over 40 years of innovation.

“In our partnership with customers, we bring a suite of offerings including products, infrastructure, equipment, people, advanced technical services, software and hardware,” said Hariparsad. He pointed to the company’s INNOVEX emulsion system, its AXXIS initiating system, the wide range of technical services, and the Blast Alliance suite of blasting software. Safety aspects were a key aspect of the day’s discussion, with BME highlighting the commitment that goes into achieving a zero recordable case rate (RCR) since its 2023 financial year.

Tech innovation

“Importantly, the technical summit included expert input on best practice in blasting, and beyond,” he said. “This took delegates through a detailed road map of the key aspects to consider in achieving their desired blast outcomes.”

There are few mining-related operations that have operated for two decades without a lost time injury – but Murray & Roberts Cementation has achieved just that at its grout injection plant between Northam and Thabazimbi in South Africa’s Limpopo province.

The 36 strong team at this grout plant oversees the logistics of mixing on surface, managing over 5km of pipeline to underground destinations, and injecting grout at the workface to prevent inundation where water is intersected during mine development. Andre van Buuren, Murray & Roberts Cementation Project Manager, highlights the depth of experience that underpins the facility’s safety culture.

“Achieving 20 years without an injury is a real testament to the collective effort of our team, applying our corporate strategies and taking personal accountability for everything that happens on site,” says van Buuren. “It is no coincidence that there is very low staff turnover at this plant – where it is not unusual for our people to have up to 25 years of service.”

Overcoming risks and challenges

The average term of current staff is 10 to 15 years, with Northam injection plant site supervisor Hendry Collins having been with the operation for over 20 years. This has allowed a culture of safety to mature, and to be passed down from the more experienced staff to the newer entrants.

The Customer Survey, conducted for TOMRA Mining’s Service Team by market research company B2B Research, revealed a standout level of overall satisfaction with a remarkable average score of 6.3 on a 7-point scale and an outstanding Net Promoter Score of +57 – significantly higher than the typical scores in B2B sectors.

This extremely positive feedback is a testament to the Service Team’s dedication, technical expertise and partnership approach to supporting its customers. It demonstrates the unique strength of TOMRA Mining’s Service as a key element of its success.

TOMRA Mining sees service as a critical element of its offer to mining operations and is constantly evaluating the best way to support its customers by listening to them. As part of this effort, it has engaged B2B Research, a reputed Business-to-Business market research company, to conduct a Customer Survey in 2018 and a second one in the first quarter of 2024 to assess the quality of its service and collect feedback from customers.

The surveys covered the different aspects of TOMRA Mining’s service activities – from the back-office’s availability and the competence of its technical support team to the quality of work of its service engineers. The respondents represented a variety of roles within the customers’ organizations, including maintenance, operations, plant and process management, parts sourcing and service planning.