Mining Developments News

The country’s second oil and gas licensing round for the exploration of five blocks in the Albertine Graben, Uganda, aims to increase international investment into Uganda’s oil-rich energy sector, with the government expecting to sign Production Sharing Agreements and issue exploration licenses to successful firms by December 2020. Frank Mugisha, Manager, Second Licensing Round Uganda explains in this Q&A with Africa Oil & Power (AOP): Why is Uganda conducting a second licensing round for oil and gas exploration blocks? The second licensing round is driven by factors including the establishment of additional petroleum resources and reserves, the current high price of crude oil, interest in investing in the country’s oil and gas sector, a conducive investment climate and minimal geological and commercial risk. The increase in the current resource base will ensure that the expensive infrastructure, such as our refinery and crude export pipeline, are economically sustained f...

SKF delivers superior quality end-to-end power transmission solutions for virtually any type of application in industries such as agriculture, sugar, cement, coal, and minerals processing. SKF’s comprehensive range of conveyor chain, belt drives, wedge belts, standard and specialist couplings, locking elements and rapidly detachable bushes, combined with specialist services, conveniently give customers access to all their power transmission requirements from a world-class single-source supplier. Kicking off the power transmission portfolio is SKF’s innovative conveyor chain which is perfectly suited to conveying or lifting a load at relatively low speeds. Frans Odendaal, Product Manager: Power Transmission at SKF recommends SKF belt drives as the best solution in applications where the speed limit of chain drives is exceeded or if the cost of running chains becomes exorbitant. He explains that belt drives need higher speed to generate the friction required to drive a system. SKF’s...

As a global bearing and rotating technology specialist, SKF South Africa is committed to assisting companies to achieve their productivity goals whilst remaining environmentally friendly. The Multilog On-line System IMx-M was the perfect solution for condition monitoring at a biomass electricity plant in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga. The biomass plant will produce electricity using the waste generated by the neighbouring paper plant during the paper making process. This waste will be used to fire the boilers to generate steam which will drive a turbine, generating 25MW. SKF received a proposal request for a condition monitoring system with 4-20 mA outputs from the customer who is in the process of designing the biomass plant. SKF proposed the sophisticated IMx-8 condition monitoring device. Lourens Zeelie, Online Condition Monitoring Specialist at SKF South Africa, explains that this device however does not feature the requested 4-20 mA outputs. “So we revisited our extensive IMx product ...

SKF has developed the double direction angular contact thrust ball bearings for machine tools where space is limited and easy mounting is required. The high-precision bearings serve as support bearings for the ball screws, which are commonly used to drive the various axes in the machine tool. This application requires a particularly reliable radial and axial guidance, which can be achieved with the bearings of the BEAS (for shaft diameters from 8 to 30 mm) and BEAM series (for bolt mounting and shaft diameters from 12 to 60 mm). SKF has now optimised the ready-to-mount bearings for higher load capacities and speeds. To this end, SKF engineers have modified the internal geometry of the bearings to increase the dynamic load capacity of the latest BEAS models by up to 17 percent compared to their predecessors. The BEAM models reach up to 20 percent more. These higher load ratings ultimately improve the service life and availability of the machine. In addition, the latest BEAM beari...

The festive season is usually a time which is spent sharing in the merriment with family and friends. However, for those without families it can be a lonely and sad period. Children living in care centres have neither families nor funds and therefore the holidays often bring little joy. Understanding the plight of these children in need, thyssenkrupp decided to once again join in the deserving Santa Shoebox initiative. The company donated the boxes to two children’s homes in Tembisa and Alexandra on 13 and 14 December 2018 respectively. Since its origination in 2006, the Santa Shoebox has since been collecting and distributing gifts to disadvantaged children across South Africa and Namibia. Filled with daily necessities such as stationary, toiletries and clothing, the Santa Shoeboxes also include a toy and something sweet to brighten up a child’s day. “thyssenkrupp has been participating in the Santa Shoebox initiative for many years, as we believe in its sentiments and making in ...

Previously announced divestment results in a net gain of SEK 1.2 billion. Unrelated to the divestment, impairments of assets and customer settlement costs totalling approximately SEK 300 million to impact operating result in Q4 2018. SKF has completed the previously announced divestment of its linear and actuation technology business to Triton. The total consideration of the divestment is SEK 2.75 billion on a cash- and debt-free basis. The closing of the divestment will have a positive effect on the operating result for Q4 2018 of SEK 1.2 billion. Christian Johansson, Senior Vice President and CFO says, “Our efforts to focus on our core business around the rotating shaft has generated approximately SEK 7 billion during the last three years. These funds have been used to strengthen the balance sheet and increase investments in manufacturing and R&D. We now have a stronger financial position from which to build upon.” Unrelated to the divestment, impairments of assets and cost...

When a local vehicle manufacturer experienced air leaks in the pneumatically operated components and systems of the specialised vehicles they construct, the company turned to SKF for assistance. As a global frontrunner in the supply of bearing technology and services, SKF was able to offer a turnkey solution in the form of a high quality leak detection instrument, the versatile TKSU 10 Ultrasonic Leak Detector. Compressed air production is integral for the daily operation of manufacturing plants but is one of the largest energy consumers. Air leaks increase load on the compressor which can lead to not only higher electricity usage, but also to a loss of up to 30% of total compressed air production capacity. The ultrasonic TKSU 10 is a premium quality instrument that detects air leaks and is ideally suited for use in all industries utilising compressed air. This ingenious device is able to identify leaks in pneumatic brake systems, vacuum systems, pressurised gas storage, and steam ...