Electrical equipment supplier Zest WEG Group’s electrical construction company, EnI Electrical, has secured a major contract at the Western Bushveld Joint Venture Project 1 Maseve mine from mine project management company DRA, the main engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contractor on the project.

Securing the contract follows EnI Electrical’s successful opening of its Rustenburg branch in 2014 to service the platinum mining sector in the region.

Enl Electrical MD Trevor Naudé says the contract represents a major coup for Zest WEG Group as Maseve is South Africa’s first greenfield platinum mine in over a decade.

“We secured the Maseve contract towards the end of 2014, in the wake of numerous small brownfield projects through which we established our base in the region.”

He adds that the greater Zest WEG Group will be involved in this flagship project, from supplying the mill motors to the electrical and instrumentation infrastructure and the associated electrical panels.

“We will be carrying out all the associated electrical cabling and racking, in addition to installation of all the instrumentation. EnI Electrical mobilised on site in March this year, with contract completion anticipated by July. This is a significant contract,” Naudé points out.

In addition, he notes that EnI Electrical has clinched a major contract from mining major Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) for the electrical and instrumentation infrastructure for a new pumpstation, adding that Enl Electrical secured the Amplats contract in January.

“Not only is EnI Electrical optimistic about the overall outlook for 2015, but we are also optimistic about the continued activity in the South African mining industry as a whole. Zest WEG Group will be targeting the mining industry aggressively, as we have the level of excellence necessary to sustain new business and to successfully deliver such turnkey projects,” Naudé says.

EnI Electrical is also progressing with its contract at uranium mining company Swakop Uranium’s Husab mine, in Namibia, where its scope of work is the construction of 33 kV overhead power lines, as well as the installation and commissioning of all medium-voltage and high-voltage switchgear. The project is scheduled for completion in August this year.

Elsewhere in Africa, EnI Electrical is running five contracts in Zambia at present for copper miner Mopani Copper Mines, which Naudé says is an important client.

“Our biggest advantage is that we are not only active in a single sector, but our contracts also run the gamut from mining to industry. This gives us the flexibility to be able to supply total solutions for diverse client requirements,” he says.

In terms of the latest developments, Naudé reveals that EnI Electrical relocated from its Strijdom Park premises to Zest WEG Group’s facilities at Linbro Business Park at the beginning of March.

“From an expansion perspective, we have outgrown Strijdom Park after nearly 30 years of presence there and, therefore, such a move is long overdue.”

EnI Electrical’s reference base of successful projects to date includes the Beira Coal Terminal, in Mozambique, the Konkola North copper project, in Zambia, Nantou Mining, in Burkina Faso, the Samancor Meyerton furnace upgrade, the Gold Fields South Deep expansion, Xstrata’s Tswelopele sinter and pelletising plant, in Rustenburg, Petra Diamonds’ Cullinan dense-media separation plant, two gold mine expansions for Barrick Gold in Tanzania, and Randgold’s Loulo gold mine, in Mali.

EnI Electrical has also completed projects in Uganda, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.