Company Announcement - B&E International is a partner of choice for the mining and construction industries with its integrated crushing, mining and mineral processing solutions, Dewald Janse van Rensburg, Managing Director, says. The company is now offering its operational expertise to its broad customer range to design and engineer custom built solutions for specific projects and applications.
“We have been designing and manufacturing plants at our Port Elizabeth facilities since the 1980s, but always on an in-house basis. It has only been over the last two years we decided that due to the skills and expertise we have garnered in this regard, we will now be offering this to the market as we believe there is a definite gap that we can fill in terms of purpose built plants and maintenance and operational plants for mine owners.”
The company was established in 1972 as a drilling and blasting specialist in the Eastern Cape and soon diversified into the mobile crushing sector with its own mobile and static crushing division. In 1993 it entered the mining services sector and diversified further into bulk mining, processing and mineral beneficiation. B&E International was acquired by the Raubex Group in 2008, completing its transformation into a strongly focused crushing, mining and mineral processing company.
On the mobile crushing and screening side of the business the company operates various crushing plants ranging in size from about 50 tph to 500 tph, and from single stage plants all the way up to massive five stage crushing plants. “Our equipment fleet consists of the most modern crushers on the market, giving B&E International the capability to produce a range of products from road stone to high quality manufactured concrete sand, base course, concrete aggregates, water bound Macadam, ballast and filter media,” Janse van Rensburg says. The high quality aggregates produced are deployed from Greenfield sites through to projects on existing commercial quarries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“B&E International’s particular skill set on the mobile crushing and screening side includes the ability to design our own mobile plants, complete with the requisite trailers, conveyors and bins. This encompasses rapid and efficient mobilisation and installation, in addition to prospecting for suitable rock and the operation and subsequent rehabilitation of project dedicated quarries,” Janse van Rensburg says. He adds that the company’s continued success in this sector is predicated on its proven ability to achieve product consistency at high volumes and in remote locations.
On the surface mining and mineral processing side of the business the company has accumulated significant Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) expertise ranging from in-field mineral pre-concentration through to processing run of mine material for further treatment such as heap leach or heavy media separation.
“Our competitive advantage is that we have been operating plants for many years and are therefore able to design plants that are more maintenance and user friendly as well as being more durable and having a much longer service life. In addition we are able to run this with a very low overhead as engineering is not our core business at the end of the day. Thus we have all the necessary skills combined with highly competitive pricing,” Janse van Rensburg says.
In addition, B&E International has the flexibility to cater for a range of plant sizes, from a 200 tph plant in Queenstown to a 500 tph plant for the Tschudi copper mine project in Namibia for Weatherly International. “We are capable of design and manufacturing plants with even greater throughputs. It all depends on what the client wants.” The company is also looking to expand its geographical footprint, with Africa a definite focus at present.
“If we get requests from the aggregates industry in Africa and there is definitely something we can do for them, we can size any plants according to the market demand. Obviously commercial crushing is a totally different ball game as it does not help if you are able to crush 100 000 t a month but can only sell 30 000 t. We can match the plant to whatever the specific market need is,” Janse van Rensburg says.
B&E International’s service offering is a particular boon to mining companies facing a depressed industry in general and declining commodity prices across the board, which has placed the emphasis on cost cutting and value addition. “At Tschudi we financed that project as well and had the client pay us back on a per ton toll basis. This allows the client to actually take over the operation of the plant when its cash flow and margins have achieved a satisfactory level. This exposes us to a certain amount of risk but it is something we are willing to do for reputable mining companies,” Janse van Rensburg says.
Such an arrangement works equally well for both parties, as B&E International has a guaranteed income stream while the client has peace of mind in terms of plant performance. “We are prepared to run it for you on a per ton basis which is agreed upon from the outset. If the plant does not perform according to specification then we will tweak it.” Janse Van Rensburg concludes that B&E International’s vast experience in the industry has allowed it to offer such value added services to its most important clients. “Not only do we now have an established track record in this regard but it is also starting to gain momentum. If our order book increases significantly in this regard then we will seriously look to ultimately expand our design, engineering and manufacturing capability.”