US imaging systems, software and services group Split Engineering is hoping to better service the African market with the office that it opened in Johannesburg, South Africa, this year.

“Many of the mining operations in Africa either have offices in South Africa or use local suppliers which makes this an ideal location from which to base our work on the continent,” the Tucson, Arizona-headquartered company states.

In Africa, Split Engineering is active in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Côte d’Ivoire.

Operations are increasingly under pressure to optimise the use of their assets and are turning to technology to achieve this.

Split Engineering provides clients with operational information regarding fragmentation size through its imaging software – Split. Split Engineering markets the Split software through two products, Split Desktop and Split-Online, and provides a fragmentation analysis service and consulting services.

“Beginning with the rock mass all the way through mill recycle, there are opportunities to analyse and optimise the process with respect to coarse particle size, both in the real-time process and for long-term management.”

The group states that measurements and simulation tools are essential for mine-to-mill initiatives or other process studies and that fragmentation size is a key metric that cross cuts the entire process, as mining is all about size reduction to liberate the mineral.

“The products supplied by Split Engineering allow plants to monitor the performance of each stage of mining and crushing, as well as avoid costly downtime through early detection of failing equipment,” the company states.

Split Engineering and its representatives have commissioned over 100 Split-Online systems at more than 85 client sites worldwide in more than 40 countries on five continents.

The US-headquartered firm recently opened an Africa office and also has a South American office in Santiago, Chile.

Hall 7 Stand G27