Mining equipment and machinery supplier CMTI Group, which started operations at its Gauteng-based factory last year, aims to raise $20-million before the close of the first quarter of this year to increase its production capacity.

Initial indications and expressions of interest from potential investors already exceed this amount.

Speaking to Mining Weekly, CMTI MD Danie Burger noted that the funds would be used to increase production capacity and human capital, in line with production and services rendered, and for general working capital purposes.

“It will also be used to increase the company’s ability to fulfil the contractual obligations associated with operating its current suite of products at the various mines,” he noted.

The company will further be able to focus on meeting the immediate demand from mining houses in Southern Africa, allowing it to increase commercial production of all its products.

This includes mechanised ultralow-profile (ULP) machinery, integrated static brake testers and rail-bound transport solutions that are now being used at various mines.

“Demand from the African and worldwide markets is also being carefully monitored and [met] by CMTI. This is being undertaken in a manner that ensures that the company is able to deliver the required contracted service level. This is critical, considering that it is exactly what sets CMTI apart from its potential competitors,” said Burger.

He further pointed out that, as demand had outstripped the company’s expectations, CMTI would, this year, focus on aggressively expanding services to a growing clientele, as well as on customising solutions for clients.

“Off-the-shelf products can’t compete with products designed and manufactured for specific mining conditions and needs,” noted Burger.

Meanwhile, the company reports that its locally developed and patented mechanised underground mining equipment is now ready for commercial contracting, following a 12-year-long development programme in joint venture with some of the world’s largest platinum-group metals (PGMs) and gold mining houses.

The company partnered with gold and PGM miner Sibanye Stillwater as technology partner, supporting the miner’s mechanisation drive.

CMTI reports that its technologies already played an important part in helping a leading platinum miner reduce safety-related stoppages at its Rustenburg operations in the 2017 financial year.

The miner reported only 276 000 t of lost ore owing to safety stoppages in 2017, compared with 559 000 t during the previous year. Taking into account safety-related, management-induced safety and other stoppages, it lost 595 000 t in the 2017 financial year, as opposed to 678 000 t in the previous financial year.

Sibanye Gold is also using CMTI’s MT 100 and MT 1000 ULP equipment to mine panels at heights of 1 m, as opposed to the current 1.5 m. “By being able [now] to extract significantly more gold-bearing ore and reduce waste-rock extraction, the mine will increase its yields and reduce its waste disposal costs,” the company said.

Powered by a trailing cable, the MT 1000 features a rock breaker for nonexplosive mining and a patented multidrill attachment, which allows four holes to be drilled quickly and accurately at the correct angles.

The company also tested its solutions in arduous South African underground environments for more than three years.

CMTI Group’s technologies are a proactive response to the clarion call for locally developed solutions that will promote safer gold and PGM mining operations, while extending the life of these mines. This takes into account the existing limitations of imported off-the-shelf technology from the US and European manufacturers in meeting South African gold and PGM miners’ demands.

“The group’s mechanised solutions remove people from harsh working environments, characterised by abrasive rock and steep gradients. As these mines become deeper, workers also have to contend with rising temperatures of virgin rock, as well as other factors that pose additional threats to health and safety,” the company noted.

Seismicity was the leading cause of the increase in underground fatalities in 2017, and Anglo American Platinum CEO Chris Griffith, who is also head of the Chamber of Mines’ CEO Zero Harm Forum, noted that industry, government and labour had to accelerate initiatives to improve underground working conditions.

“It is a serious concern to all stakeholders in the industry that the death toll in South Africa’s mines in 2017 surpassed those in 2016. There were 82 fatalities in 2017, over and above the 73 reported in the previous year. This has ended nine consecutive years of falling fatalities in the world’s deepest mines, and the call for increased mechanisation will continue to gain momentum,” Burger added.

He also pointed to the critical role that mechanisation would play in ensuring the industry’s sustainability by significantly extending mine life by facilitating the mining of lower-grade orebodies and accessing deeper resources.

Mechanisation replaces the outdated drilling-and-blasting method used in the South African narrow-reef, hard-rock mining environment.

Increased depths and distances from the shaft have resulted in less drill time at the workface. This has contributed towards shrinking production and burgeoning costs, which have been compounded by suppressed commodity prices.

Mechanisation will facilitate the mining of deeper resources and greenfield targets that depend on continuous operations, Burger said.

“Increased adoption of local mechanisation by underground mines will play an immense part in creating secure employment opportunities in the country, while contributing significantly towards skills development and shareholder wealth,” he highlighted.