Mining process equipment manufacturer and supplier Multotec’s Australian office is conducting product sales, development and improvement through field trials at several key mines in the country as a measure of its confidence in its products, says Multotec international business executive Roy Roche.

He says that Australia’s mining industry is highly sophisticated and has well-designed plants that employ new technology. Plants often operate with fewer personnel, with the associated lower cost structures, while concentrating on return on investment.

He adds that Australian plants generally aim for 92% availability with set shutdown periods being allocated for maintenance, which includes fly-in and fly-out crews from approved suppliers. He explains that, given the significant investment required to build a plant, it needs to run as productively and cost efficiently as possible, with high plant availability, tonnage and recovery. It also needs to focus on reduced downtime for maintenance.

Thus, the products’ wear rate, design and suitability of materials of construction are among the variables measured during field trials. Multotec has achieved considerable success in many sales and trials, he says.

He explains that field trials assist the company in verifying product performance and ensuring that the best possible life cycles are achieved. Further, the use of data aggregated from field trials allows Multotec engineers to accurately forecast product life cycles, allowing plants to schedule maintenance requirements.

Research and Development
Multotec, in Australia, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Multotec South Africa, which operates with administrative and coordinative support from the South African operation. Multotec has its main offices in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, with satellite offices in other areas.

Lessons learnt in the Australian mining environment, especially in terms of supply chain management, have been incorporated into the South African operation, while product innovations through research and development have been shared between the two countries. The key learning curve has been the development of service initiatives in Australia, which the company believes are amongst the world’s finest.

For example, as a result of this knowledge sharing, some manu- facturing processes have been streamlined in the South African operation, notably in centrifuge baskets and moulding capabilities. Also, global sourcing and speed to market have become paramount in strategic thinking and directives.

Multotec’s product footprint is linked to the location of commodi- ties throughout Australia, parti- cularly iron-ore and gold in the west, diamonds in the central and northern parts of the country and coal and base metals in the east.

The company has seen increased demand and opportunities in Australia’s iron-ore and coal industries through consistent orders over the past few years as its profile, capability and footprint have grown, says Roche. It has had particular success in selling its rubber screen panels and polyurethane screen panels to diversified miner Rio Tinto’s Mount Tom Price mine and Australian iron-ore miner Cape Lambert, besides others.

He attributes the success of these products to good technical resources, design, high-quality materials manufacture and good performance linked to process knowledge and the ability to engineer products around total life cycle costing.

The company also has ongoing contracts to supply mill linings to blue chip clients Mt Isa (owned by global diversified mining group Xstrata, in North Queensland), gold producer Oceania Gold, in New Zealand, and South-East Asian sites.

Other contracts in Queensland, Australia, include dense- medium cyclones to Australian coal miner and exporter BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance’s Peak Downs mine; cyclones and polyurethane screen panels to coal producer Anglo Coal’s German Creek mine; and dense-media cyclones, classification cyclones and spirals to Syntech Resources’ Cameby Downs coal mine project. Syntech Resources is part of the privately owned Syntech Group, which was formed to acquire and develop the Cameby Downs coal deposit.

Developing Capacity
Multotec’s cyclones, rubber screen panels and polyurethane screen panels are manufactured in Australia and, thus, its manufacturing processes follow strict adherence to quality standards, including ISO 9001:2000.

Other products and components are manufactured in offshore risk-managed sites globally. A long-term solution to these challenges lies in developing the manufacturing and skills capabilities of the Australian offices, says Roche. A wide-ranging global base of skills has been used to build this critical subsidiary, says Roche.

To subscribe to Mining Weekly's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.