Anglo American Platinum has drawn applause for its role in the opening of a new pipe factory in job-short Limpopo, which is aimed at sustainably developing the community of Mokopane, where the mining company operates its rich Mogalawena opencast platinum mine.
Anglo American Platinum partnered Africa Pipe Industries in the creation of the black economically empowered Africa Pipe Industries North.
“We applaud Anglo American Platinum,” Limpopo Premier Chupu Mathabatha said when he officially opened the plant with company CEO Chris Griffith, who described the initiative as a local enterprise development project that would create new skills in the community.
Anglo American Platinum will provide a stable order book for the plant, which is targeting Africa’s entire sub-Saharan Africa market.
As a producer of large-bore steel piping, the 76-employee plant has created opportunities for the community of Mokopane to contribute to Africa’s expanding infrastructure requirements, Africa Pipe Industries CEO John Jansen van Nieuwenhuizen said in a release to Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly.
The helically welded pipes meet international standards for the water, oil and gas markets throughout Africa.