The African subsidiary of Australian firm Ludowici has set its sights on becoming more active in the local minerals processing sector by increasing awareness of its technological solutions.

Ludowici was established in Australia in 1858 and, in 1911, became the second company to list on the Australian Stock Exchange. However, its entry into Africa came significantly later, when one of its centrifuges was installed and commissioned by mine design and planning consultant DRA, at a Witbank coal mine in 1997.

It then began operations in South Africa, in 2003, in a joint venture with Malvern Engineering.

“The company entered the African market with a relatively low profile in 2003 and by 2006 established Ludowici Africa Pty (Ltd),” Ludowici Africa GM Fanie Swart tells Mining Weekly.

“Since then, we have steadily been supplying our products into the African minerals processing market and have been involved in a number of significant projects, including Moatize and Benga, in Mozambique, as well as Ariva’s Trekkopje project, in Namibia, to name a few. We are now embarking on an aggressive strategy to broaden the market’s awareness of the solutions we offer,” says Swart.

Its product range focuses on servicing the global industrial and minerals processing sectors and includes vibrating equipment, centrifuges, coal processing equipment, cyclones, screening media and wear- resistant materials.

“The coal sector is where our strength lies and where most of our equipment is installed, yet we are also involved in other commodities, such as precious metals, base metals and mineral sands,” says Swart.

Products in its vast range include a wide range of vibrating equipment, including grizzlies, feeders and screens, which handle applications from primary crushing circuits to slurry recovery and material from hard rock to grain, as well as their patented coal valves.

It also offers a section of classification and dense-medium cyclones for specific applications such as dense-media separation baths, cyclones and its revolutionary fine coal processing product, the reflux classifier.

Swart reports that, within the next nine months, the company will be in a position to offer the market a state-of-the-art cyclone, which will offer improved metallurgical efficiencies and increased wear life on components, enabling both process and operational efficiencies.

With regard to fine particle beneficiation, Ludowici has over the last decade developed and patented the reflux classifier (RC) in conjunction with the University of Newcastle, in Australia.

The technology relies on beneficiating mineral particles by density separation, hydrosizing by means of upward flowing water (fluidising water) and increased recovery by lamella plates.

“A number of the major mining groups in chrome, mineral sands and manganese in South Africa have either already conducted testwork on various products with the RC, or subsequently purchased the unit, while other players are still carrying out testwork,” says Swart.

“The value proposition of the RC is that it offers significantly higher efficiencies, as well as a vastly reduced footprint, with one 2 m × 2 m RC 2020 unit at 80 t/h to 100 t/h capable of replacing a bank of 32 spiral concentrators.”

The RC 2020 has a wide range of feed types, including ferrometals, iron-ore, chrome, manganese and mineral sands, with feed rates between 11 t/h and 100 t/h of feed solids. The unit produces –2,0 mm to +0,25 mm fine coal feed. The same is applicable for minerals.

Ludowici also offers a range of horizontal and vertical centrifuges and has led the development of the Horizontal Fine Coal (HFC1300) centrifuge, which Swart says is the world’s largest-capacity scroll-type centrifuge.

“This unit far outperforms competing products and demonstrates Ludowici’s commitment to continuous innovation,” says Swart.

Another innovation is the Malco Coal Valve, a discharge machine used in the high-rate reclaiming of bulk storage coal.

“The reason our coal valves outperform all competitive products is the exceptionally high rate at which they can extract product, up to 8000 t/h per unit,” says Swart, who reports that these units have been operating successfully at Xtrata’s Goedgevonden operation for some years now.

Another innovative product is the Jetslinger, which was developed to improve speed, efficiency and flexibility in stockpiling and shiploading operations. Featuring on-board hydraulic maintenance capabilities and a cartridge-mounted pulley system for rapid belt changing, benefits include faster maintenance and the reduction of costly downtime.

Further items in Ludowici’s product arsenal includes pipe solutions, featuring wear resistant linings, materials handling hoses, expansion joints, screening systems, the Hicom high-intensity mill, sieve bends, mill liners, modular polyurethane panels, hydraulic and pneumatic seals and the Silent Knight exciter gearbox, offering significant lower levels of noise emission. A range of magnetic separators is also available through business partner Malvern Engineering.

“The range of products which we have on offer to the African market, compared with a year ago, has grown dramatically and demonstrates the commitment from our Australian parent company to the African market,” says Swart.

Swart took the helm of the African subsidiary in October 2010, with one of his priorities being to make the market more aware of the technological solutions the company has to offer.

“We are differentiated from similar players by a number of unique products, access to proprietary technology and a passion for innovation, which allows us to ‘sprinkle our fairy dust’ and solve the most challenging minerals processing issues,” says Swart.

In line with its strategy of penetrating the market to a greater degree, the company is actively seeking out new resources and has increased its workforce by 30% in the past six months, and is expected to grow by a further 20%.

It is also investigating moving from its Kempton Park, Gauteng, premises to a larger site, which will allow it to achieve its ambitions of engaging in greater levels of service and local manufacture.

“Further, we will be increasing our sales and service coverage, ensuring that we align our growth plans with our broad-based black economic-empowerment aspirations.

“We also have aggressive plans to expand into various geographies to service our markets – for example, by establishing an official presence in Mozambique, as well as plans to become more active further north into Africa.”

This is in line with the stated intentions of Ludowici CEO and MD Patrick Largier, who has indicated that the group has plans to grow its African business strongly over the coming years.

“The African minerals processing market is large and growing strongly, and Ludowici already sells into South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Ghana, which provides an excellent platform for expansion,” says Largier.

He adds that current African business turnovers are an estimated A$8-million a year, and there are plans to increase this to A$20-million a year in the near term.

“In Africa, capital equipment constitutes about 68% of Ludowici sales to the minerals processing industry. We expect this to become a more balanced portfolio as the company grows,” says Largier.

He adds that Ludowici’s strategy is to drive increased profits through both global organic growth and acquisitions, supported by operational improvements.

It is Swart’s task to align the local operation’s activity with this vision.

“We have begun to make our presence felt in the African mineral processing arena and, as the market becomes more aware of the technological innovations on offer from Ludowici, there will be significant growth potential on our horizon,” says Swart.

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