In response to the global mining industry’s need for integrated package solutions, higher levels of service and faster turnaround times, South African minerals processing equipment supplier Roymec Technologies is consolidating its various business units under one roof.

“To remain competitive and relevant, suppliers need to provide the same level of service as, or a better level than, any competitor. In addition to services and support, this means carrying greater responsibility, achieving faster design cycles, and better drawing turnaround and fabrication times,” says Roymec Technologies process director Mark Langton.

“Clients are constantly looking for a partner in their mineral processing activities, rather than an equipment supplier,” says Roymec Technologies technical director Bruce Martinson, adding that clients want packaged solutions, reduced involvement with multiple suppliers – which in turn reduces risk – and, most importantly, to find equipment suppliers with the expertise to add value to processing and be an extension of clients’ operations team.

To achieve this, the com- pany reports that, in August, it will take occupancy of its new 6 000 m² business premises in Longmeadow, Modderfontein. This will enable it to consolidate its service offerings in one place, and includes bench-top and pilot plant laboratories, a research and development laboratory, a spares consolidation warehouse facility, a basic equipment assembly facility as well as offices for sales, engineering, contract management and administrative functions.

“We foresee clients having an increasing preference for suppliers to take responsibility for spare parts and maintenance, and our new premises will cater to this need, as we plan to increase our contingency spares and stockholding,” says Martinson.

The company is also planning to expand its pilot plant facilities to encompass testwork for a wide product range, including pressure fitration, vacuum filtration, pin bed clarification, thickening, ion exchange and solvent extraction filtration.

The new facility will allow Roymec to reduce the turnaround response time for testwork, concept development, internal process development and delivery.

“At the end of the day, our decisions and actions are driven by the need to partner with clients to manage their processes and, ultimately, their costs. We have now positioned ourselves to grow further, which will allow us to enhance our support capabilities,” says Langton.

Further, while Roymec Technologies is familiar with working in Africa – a mining destination of choice for the foreseeable future – the company is interested in showcasing its ability to work in any global mining area, regardless of logistical challenges or the remoteness of the location.

“We have largely been an Africa-focused base metals sector business until now and are working hard to expand both our commodity focus – to metals and minerals, such as gold, uranium and coal – and our geographic footprint,” notes Martinson.

The company adds that it is well on its way to achieving this. “Most recently, we successfully contracted to supply a paste thickener plant to a remote gold mine in Kazakhstan. In addition to overcoming logistical, legislative, language and time zone challenges, we also had to beat the severe winter with a three-month window period,” he says.

Roymec highlights that the job was successful, and both Langton and Martinson believe that the former Eastern Bloc’s mining sector, which includes gold, copper, iron, nickel and platinum, will become a substantial business generator into the future.

Positive Outlook for Industry

The company notes that process plants are being designed with a zero effluent discharge policy to preserve water to comply with environmental legislation, and that preservation is becoming increasingly regulated and stringent in the mining sector.

“As a result, the need for paste thickening and tailings filtration is becoming increasingly popular as an effective method to recover water from tailings,” adds Langton.

In line with the company’s predicted upturn in the demand for tailings treatment through thickening, the company is also investing significantly in thickener design methodologies.

“Thickening technology may be mature, but there are still a lot of unknown factors about the technology, including the import-ance of effective slurry distribution and flow, residence time, and factors affecting underflow density,” says Langton.

Further, to better understand thickening technologies, Roymec is developing a new-generation sizing model for thickening, which will also incorporate paste thickening.

The Future is Ion Exchange

Roymec Technologies is also looking to establish itself as a leader in ion exchange – an area which the company notes has yet to become commonplace in the hydrometal- lurgy industry – despite the fact that it is more environment friendly than traditional processing methods.

“In many instances, ion exchange could easily, and viably, displace solvent extraction technology. We believe in the technol-ogy and are investigating developing new ion exchange processes aimed at making ion exchange more competitive. We will look to advance this niche process to large-scale bulk metallurgical plants,” Langton concludes.