The African mining and mineral resources sector is one of the most important international markets for Aury Africa, which plans a concerted expansion drive on the continent once it is firmly entrenched in South Africa.

This is according to Xiaoming Yuan, Chairman of Aury Africa and Vice-President of holding company of Dadi Engineering Development Group (DEDG), who recently paid another visit to the South African operation in February. Yuan has been visiting Aury South Africa on a regular basis since 2012.

“We are fully ready to bring all of our unique services and products to South Africa. We also look forward to strengthening our relationship with existing clients, and bringing new South African mining companies onboard to ensure their operations are significantly more efficient and environment-friendly,” Yuan said.

“Compared to other mining engineering companies, we have many decades of in-depth knowledge in smart technology. We also have a greater knowledge and understanding of the mining industry. This makes us really unique,” he added. Here he highlighted DEDG’s dry sorting technology and ‘smart’ plant concept.

The ‘smart’ plant concept utilises automated control and sensor technology to monitor key parameters to boost operational efficiency on a proactive, real-time basis. These range from pump pressure to conveyor-belt speeds. All software and hardware in this regard is proprietary, and has been developed specifically by DEDG for the mining industry.

“Our ‘smart’ dry sorting system is quite unique in terms of its sorting accuracy. Our smart plant system will revolutionise the mineral processing industry, ensuring it utilises the best of modern technologies. These technologies afford a lot of benefits to our potential clients,” Yuan emphasised.

Yuan was confident that Aury Africa will be able to replicate the success of subsidiaries Aury Tianjin and Aury Australia. “What I believe we need to do to achieve this is develop structures that are similar to those in place in China and Australia, which possess highly-skilled and experienced individuals with a comprehensive knowledge of our equipment and products.”

A significant achievement for Aury Africa was its recent Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) agreement with 100% black-owned local services company Nkomose Consulting Engineers & Projects, which has resulted in a Level 2 B-BBEE accreditation. “We are very cognisant of the need to be compliant in terms of the Mining Charter, and have made great strides in this regard.”

Commenting on the strained trade relations between the US and China, and the potential impact on Africa, Yuan said: “I have not seen any effect, positive or negative, on Aury Africa’s business, at least not yet. However, we will continue to monitor the situation in order to ensure that we take up any new opportunities that may arise, and put in place contingency measures should there be any concerns. I do believe that this opens up new opportunities for African mining companies to supply commodities to China.”

Yuan concluded that his frequent visits to Aury Africa is an integral part of DEDG’s strategy for the continent. “This is to ensure I can monitor the progress that the Aury Africa management team is making, and visit important and potential clients together with the team. I believe that my visit was successful, because I saw significantly more potential for new business opportunities than on my previous trips to the country.”