Privately owned and managed structural steel, mechanical, electrical, instru- mentation and piping (SMEIP) construction company Redis Construction Afrika is working on several copper projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), executive chairperson Wahab Suliman ‘Solly’ Ismail told Mining Weekly on the sidelines of the Investing in African Mining Indaba.

“In the last five years, we constructed three separate copper refineries in the DRC for copper companies,” he reported, further highlighting that one of its DRC projects had reached Phase 5, while two other projects had recently completed the second phase.

“We believe we are in a good position to be contracted for the next round of work on all these projects,” he enthused.

Redis at the Mining Indaba

Ismail stated that Redis had been participating in the Investing in African Mining Indaba for the last seven years, adding that it was important for the company to participate in the event, as it greatly assisted Redis in discovering new projects in Africa for which the company could possibly be contracted.

In the last eight years, Redis had undertaken extensive SMEIP work on several mining projects in Africa, including in the DRC, Kenya and Nigeria.

Ismail said it was important for Redis to highlight that, as a South African company, it had not only a broad understanding of what was required to work in other parts of Africa but also the technical expertise to carry out the complex SMEIP work required for projects currently under way on the continent.

“We have learnt, rather rapidly, that working in Africa can be challenging, specifically when it comes to effectively implementing logistics schedules and ensuring that the project work is completed on time and within budget,” Ismail stressed.

African Presence

From its head office in Johannesburg, Redis manages the company’s Southern, West and East African hubs, which include potential projects in South Africa, Angola, Botswana, the DRC, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Redis also has an office in Ghana, which oversees the company’s West African operations, while the company oversees its East African operations with a local partner in Kenya.

“Our business management nodes ensure that we have a prominent presence in all the major African mining centres,” said Ismail.

Meanwhile, he told Mining Weekly that he had attended several company presentations at the indaba, including private venture capital and project finance firm Ivanhoe Capital Corporation chairperson Robert Friedland’s keynote address and South Africa-based diversified resources company Exxaro’s executive head of growth, technology and services Ernst Venter’s presentation, which he believed provided insight into new project development opportunities that the company would pursue and for which the company could potentially secure contracts.

“Redis is positive about the prospects of further growth in the African mining industry over the next 12 to 18 months and, as a South African company, we look forward to playing an even greater role in the develop-ment of the African mining industry,” Ismail concluded.