Concrete equipment supplier and manufacturer Pan Mixers South Africa (PMSA) is increasing its focus on providing greater value-added support for the African mining and concrete manufacturers sector through industry-specific open-training and workshop sessions.

“The decision to host regular open- training and workshop sessions is of particular importance to PMSA, especially as our product and service offering to the mining sector continues to expand at a constant rate,” says PMSA marketing and sales manager Quintin Booysen.

The company plans to start the two-day training and workshop sessions at the end of this month, every month covering a different topic, at its showroom and sales facility in Jet Park, Boksburg. These sessions will be held in conjunction with leading international speakers from the specific concrete equipment sectors.

He adds that, based on advisory services company KPMG’s ‘Mining in Africa towards 2020’ report, the future of Africa’s mining industry remains bright, as there has been a lot of expansion at and around mines on the continent, which creates a good business opportunity for PMSA’s services and products.

“The report points out that the operational environment and political risk assessments in Botswana, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia [make them] attractive destinations for mining investments. As a result, we have expanded our business into these countries by providing our products and services as well as established FIORI dealers in both Ghana and Tanzania,” notes Booysen.

PMSA highlights that its Fiori self- loading concrete mixers have been distributed to the Southern African mining sector and have been operating at plants with great success. The diesel-powered, standalone mixer can scoop and load aggregate, and mix, transport and place concrete independently, while being operated by a single person.

Capital equipment machinery distributor MACS is the PMSA-Fiori distributor in Tanzania and PMSA-FIORI is exploring the possibility of establishing other dealers for the mixers to other countries, where it believes they can be efficiently used in mining operations.

During an official announcement in September last year, PMSA became the local distributor of a wide range of high-quality ready-mix concrete batching plants for internationally recognised concrete batching and mixing equipment manufacturer IMER. This has added to the company’s product and service expansion, and Booysen believes that this is the start of a good partnership, which will impact positively on the mining industry.

The largest output capacity in the IMER batching plants range is 300 m³/h. The semimobile batching plants consists of a self-contained unit that includes the frame, aggregate hopper, conveyor belt, cement batcher and control panel. The system requires no foundation works for installation and it can be combined with a storage group or a radius lift arm. The production capacity of the plant can reach up to 54 m³/h.

IMER manufactures wet- and dry- concrete batching plants, which are preassembled, prewired and engineered to reduce time and space constraints at the construction yard. The plants are also designed to be transported on standard trucks. The mixing phase of the wet- concrete batching plant takes place in a planetary pan or a twin-shaft mixer, depending on the model of the plant.

Booysen highlights that, with most mining companies looking for a quick turnaround in production, PMSA’s FIORI and IMER products provide efficiency for mines and allow for a speedy production rate of concrete on site where the concrete is needed.

“[Because of] the qualities of the products and services that we offer, the training and workshop sessions will enhance the knowledge of mine managers and technical personnel on the use of such products at their operations, which is an added advantage,” he points.

PMSA says it hopes to further expand its footprint on the continent through this initiative and it believes that these workshops will raise awareness and highlight the company’s knowledge of the mining sector’s concrete needs.