Johannesburg-based industrial grating and handrailing manu- facturer Gridfast will this month complete the supply of 3 730 m2 of grating and 2 500 stair treads to coal miner Sasol Mining’s Impumelelo colliery, in Secunda, Mpumalanga.

The contract was awarded to Gridfast by steelwork fabricator and erector Louwill Engineering.

To date, 2 300 m2 of grating and 1 500 stair treads have been supplied.

The Impumelelo mine, which is scheduled to start supplying coal in the fourth quarter of 2014, will supply Sasol’s coal-to-liquids operations in Secunda, replacing Sasol Mining’s existing Brandspruit coal mine.

The products will be used throughout the mine, with the bulk of the products being used on the overland conveyors, the tripper conveyor, the reclaim conveyor and the decline conveyor, as well as at two coal bunkers of 4 000 t and 15 000 t respectively.

In addition to this project, Grid-fast technical director Sereshen Moodley tells Mining Weekly that the company is supplying products to Canada-based international mining company Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb (formerly Namibia Custom Smelters), in Namibia.

Steel fabricator Genrec Engineer-ing, a division of construction firm Murray & Roberts, awarded the order to Gridfast in February this year. Murray & Roberts will undertake the construction of gas cleaning, and sulphuric acid and effluent treatment plants at the Tsumeb smelter complex.

The order comprises 3 700 m2 of grating, 1 000 stair treads and 3 400 m of handrailing and stanchions, says Moodley.

Gridfast, the first 100% black-owned grating manufacturer in South Africa, manufactures and supplies uncoated, bitumen-coated or galvanised handrailing and stanchions, including bends and end closures, smooth or serrated standard grating panels, fabricated grating floors to approved drawings, stair treads and trench covers, all at lead times of between three and four weeks.

Gridfast, which is South African Bureau of Standards-approved, operates from a 6 000 m2 manufacturing facility in Johannesburg. The facility comprises tube rolling, tool and die manufacture, a sandblasting facility, a press shop, airless spraying and bitumen coating, as well as a fabrication shop, which undertakes metal inert gas, tungsten inert gas, spot and gas welding.