Business aviation organisation ExecuJet Africa will use the 2017 Investing in African Mining Indaba, in Cape Town, to launch its new service offering – a VIP-configured Bell 407 charter helicopter, which will operate from the company’s fixed-base operator facility in Cape Town.

The company announced the arrival of the helicopter in December.

“We anticipate that this will be a useful service for mining executives needing to charter an aircraft to access more remote sites in Africa. The Bell 407 integrates reliability, speed, performance and maneuverability, with a cabin that can be configured for a range of missions and payloads,” says ExecuJet Africa sales and marketing director Stephen Paddy.

Its Rolls-Royce 250-C 473 turbine engine, equipped with a full-authority digital-engine control system, delivers exceptionally high performance, with the ability to cruise at 140 knots, he boasts.

ExecuJet is well established as a service provider to the African mining sector, offering fly-in, fly-out services to miners and executives across the continent, as well as providing helicopter support to operational sites.

Paddy highlights that the company has noted a more cautious approach from the mining sector when procuring services, with mining houses attempting to restrict costs to manage the effects of low commodities prices.

However, the company is optimistic about the future, with the stabilising of some commodities prices likely to bring about the expansion of mines in more remote areas, best reached by helicopter. In addition, Paddy notes that many mining houses, which initially started off small, are growing and reporting good profit margins, presenting ExecuJet with the opportunity to expand its client base.

Key areas of growth for the company have been in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In 2015, ExecuJet became involved in an extensive soil sampling project covering the whole of Angola. In 2016, it played a supportive role for mining exploration and development in the DRC, providing rotary wing support to meet a host of demands, including personnel transportation and survey operations, as well as equipment transportation and placement.

“The versatility of using a rotary wing aircraft is yielding significant economic benefits for the companies involved in these projects. Our modern helicopter fleet and highly trained crew have been extremely successful at helping our clients negotiate the logistics of some very specialised operations. We will continue to provide our services for these projects well into the future.”

Meanwhile, ExecuJet has attended the Mining Indaba for the past four years and is looking forward to this year’s event, which will be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from February 6 to 9.

“Mining Indaba gives the mining industry an opportunity to network and share knowledge, as well as connect with potential future funders of mining operations and services in Africa. It is a very valuable event for us, as a large number of our clients will be in attendance, thus providing us with an opportunity to touch base with them while forming new relationships with prospective clients.”