The maintenance of mining projects on the African continent is becoming increasingly challenging, as these operations are increasingly taking place in remote areas, which particularly poses a logistical challenge and is a time-consuming process, especially if required spare parts are not in stock on site.

This, says industrial group Ekato head of mineral processing Ralph Schmidt, is the result of high-grade mineral deposits becoming more scarce, with mining companies moving to more remote locations to build up and operate profitable mining operations with sufficiently high-grade resources.

“In recent years, Africa has become a focus point, owing to its first-class deposits, improved political stability and affordable labour costs,” he says, adding that with every day an operation is shut, between several hundred thousand and a couple of million worth of production revenue is lost.

“Agitation equipment for gold, uranium, nickel or any other hydrometallurgical process route, therefore, has to be designed and manufactured according to the highest quality standards to keep a long-term operation uptime, improve maintenance cycles and ensure as little production losses as possible,” he notes.

As a result, Ekato has shifted its focus towards providing complete agitation solutions with the highest mechanical reliability and a process design tailored to the specific process.

Schmidt adds that the company’s promise of quality starts not only with manufacturing but right at the basic engineering phase, where the largest influence on the future agitation process is ensured. This includes looking at mechanical reliability, tailored process designs, availability of after-sales service and increasing uptimes and production.

“Mechanically reliability, as well as efficient process designs, result in increased operating time of the agitation system. As a result, yearly output is increased and concentrate yields are improved,” he notes, adding that, dependent on specific process parameters, such as metal recovery, metal content in ore and concentrate as well as yearly throughput, the additional amount of saleable material can be estimated.

Further, Schmidt notes that, as an example, only one week extra availability of an agitator at a medium-sized gold operation, with roughly 200 000 oz/y of gold production, could result in additional revenue of over €6-million.

“Our experience has shown that, quite often, existing agitator availability can be very low and unplanned maintenance can occur rather often; therefore, the potential for increased production with an Ekato agitation solution effects this value add to an even higher figure than shown above.

“As a result, besides the positive cost effect of decreased spare parts investment, the additional turnover generated is a factor not to be underestimated. This may also serve as an investment decision criteria when considering revamping existing equipment with Ekato solutions –
amortisation times can become as low as single months,” he emphasises.

Meanwhile, Schmidt notes that the company is also shifting towards providing a larger after-sales service. “Keeping an operation running requires reliable equipment, but also the technical know-how for operating the agitators properly. Ekato recommends training for the on-site personnel, which can either be carried out at the Ekato facilities in Germany or more conveniently directly on-site,” he explains.

Additionally, all relevant maintenance activities during scheduled maintenance intervals, or required assembly steps in the case of a partial exchange of worn-out blades, are also handled in detail. “As a result, the on-site staff will be enabled to manage the daily business trouble-free and on their own.

Through a 24/7 hotline or being directly on-site, Ekato also has the capacity to be available to clients worldwide to ensure quick troubleshooting. “Particularly in remote locations, Ekato will give recommendations for capital spares that might be put on stock on-site, especially to ensure short downtimes and fast component supplies,” he says.

Schmidt concludes that all of these after-sales activities aim at keeping the operations running: 24/7, 365 days a year, with as little downtime and production losses as possible.