Mining Developments News

On 1st December 2017 Epiroc South Africa (Pty) Ltd. was introduced to employees with a kick-off party that rocked! Kitted out in their grey and yellow Epiroc branded golf shirts, employees were welcomed by Kathryn Coetzer, Communications and Academy Manager for Epiroc SA. Video presentations delivered special messages from Mats Rahmström, CEO and President of Atlas Copco AB, and Helena Hedblom, Senior Executive VP – Mining and Infrastructure, Epiroc AB, who welcomed everyone to the Epiroc SA family. Frans van Niekerk, VP: Sub-Sahara region and Managing Director of Atlas Copco Industrial South Africa (Pty) Ltd. wished the local team best of luck in their new venture. Referring to the launch as a historical occasion, Victor Scott, Business Controller at Epiroc SA, said that Epiroc was formed to be a strong partner for customers by building on Atlas Copco expertise and performance. “Performance unites us, innovation inspires us and commitment drives us to keep moving forward. Customers ...

With effect from January 1, 2018, the Hydraulic Attachment Tools division within Atlas Copco becomes part of Epiroc, the company that Atlas Copco plans to dividend out in mid-2018. The division manufactures excavator attachment tools such as hydraulic breakers, cutters, pulverizers, bucket crushers, shears, grapples and magnets. Also effective from that date, all the division's current products will be delivered with Epiroc product branding. The Hydraulic Attachment Tools division has been a technology leader for more than 50 years. The hydraulic breaker was originally developed in 1963 by the German company Krupp Berco Bautechnik, which became part of Atlas Copco in 2002. Currently, with some 100 different hydraulic attachment tools, the product range is designed to ensure that customers can always find the right tool for their specific application and excavator. The division manufactures, among others, the HB 10000, the largest serial hydraulic breaker in the world – every punch...

[Johannesburg, 12 February 2018]: Skills and knowledge are the motivating force of the growth of any business. They have become even more so given the increasing pace of technological advancement in the workplace. On the back of that understanding, Monitech, a South African industry leader in mining safety and monitoring solutions, views skill building as a device to improve the efficacy and contribution of its personnel to overall production of its customers. To have skilled personnel is every company’s key objective to ensure that any skills gaps that its customers may experience at any time are addressed timeously to avoid unnecessary production losses, explains Jarrod Hassett, CEO of, Monitech. Consequently, Monitech – as a leading mining safety and monitoring solutions provider – has always placed a major priority on developing its skills base. “All our staff are encouraged to expand their skills set and Monitech supports this by paying for any associated tuition and allocati...

Visitors to this year’s Mining & Technical Exhibitions (MTE) stand the chance of winning one of 25 Chicago Pneumatic CPPG5 (5.5Kva) petrol-driven portable generators. ”In a bid to grow the Chicago Pneumatic brand within the mining industry which is a key market for us, we took the decision to focus on this segment during 2018,” explains Business Development Manager for Chicago Pneumatic Construction Equipment in South Africa, Eben van der Vyver. ”Our barter agreement with MTE sees us giving away a total of 25 portable generators, one at each of the exhibitions during 2018.” ”With the exhibitions taking place in six of our country’s Provinces as well as in neighbouring countries, Botswana and Zambia, MTE presents us with the ideal platform to expand our CPPG generator footprint in the mining sector.” Van der Vyver adds that this initiative also provides good exposure for Chicago Pneumatic’s distributors. The first MTE was held on 25 January 2018 at Cullinan Diamond Mine in Gau...

“Atlas Copco must be first in the customer’s mind and first in the customer’s choice when it comes to choosing air compression technology,” states Business Line Manager for Atlas Copco Compressor Technique Services (CTS), Ian Ainsworth. “So we always strive to put our customers first by making it easy for them to do business with us – from the initial purchase of the compressor right through to after-market services. To this end we are introducing a number of strategic initiatives to our service portfolio in order to streamline our offering and meet our customers’ service requirements.” Ainsworth points out that in the past, OEM service had very little competition as customers for the most part only dealt with OEMs for their aftermarket service requirements. The uncertain and volatile economy and retrenchments is forcing qualified engineers and technicians to start their own businesses giving rise to the emergence of one-man businesses. Armed with a service vehicle and tools and oft...

Key stakeholders in South Africa's automation industry have called for greater collaboration to drive industrial progress. Speaking at the official launch of the Africa Automation Fair 2019 in Johannesburg this week, stakeholders noted that South Africa was emerging from turbulent times, but said that through collaboration to drive progress, the automation sector could help fast-track economic growth and development. The automation sector, now moving toward a digital 'Industrie 4.0/IIoT' era, is poised to drive greater efficiencies and make South African enterprises internationally competitive, which will ultimately benefit all South Africans, they said. Oratile Sematle, President of the South African Institute of Measurement and Control (SAIMC), noted that the industry had already progressed to a point where its voice as a collective is now heard in government, institutions and various sectors. "But knowing that if we use automation in the right ways, we can ...

Over recent years, the South African mining industry has been plagued by political, legislative and regulatory uncertainty, stifling growth by increasing investment risk in South Africa. The most recent blow to the industry was led by the Minister of Mineral Resources when he unilaterally announced a new Mining Charter, ushering in "radical economic transformation" by significantly shifting the requirements for black ownership and employment equity at mining companies. However, there does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of the newly elected ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa. This became evident at this year's Mining Indaba. The manner in which Ramaphosa has been tackling the Eskom issues and his messages to the market, has investors hopeful that he would be able to mend the fence between the industry and the ministry. Ramaphosa's history with the National Union of Mineworkers may also serve to reassure investors and the mining industry that he u...