New Johannesburg premises will empower more local companies to extract greater value from minerals

TOMRA has opened new regional headquarters in Johannesburg to strengthen its commitment to customers in southern Africa. This initiative is designed to enhance customer care through even better technical support, service, and training, and to ensure prompt availability of spare parts. The move will also improve operational efficiencies by bringing together under one roof all three TOMRA business divisions: Mining, Recycling, and Food.

TOMRA’s new facilities are housed in a two-story, 1,800 square-meter building which accommodates offices, a warehouse, spare parts area, two training rooms, and three meeting rooms connected to TOMRA’s global network of more than 4,000 employees.

There is also the space here to demonstrate TOMRA’s sensor-based sorting technologies. The building’s location on the edge of the Longmeadow Business Estate, Edenvale, to the north-east of Johannesburg, is conveniently close to major road networks and the city’s airport.

The most senior executive at the new headquarters is Albert du Preez, Senior Vice-President and Head of TOMRA Mining. Du Preez commented: “This investment affirms TOMRA’s wholehearted and long-term commitment to southern Africa. This is a growing market, and one we take very seriously. The 26-strong team operating out of our new headquarters will support customers in South Africa and all other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

TOMRA Mining’s sorting solutions are of increasing importance

With the mineral industry such a valuable source of export earnings, it is hugely important to national economies in Sub-Saharan Africa. The African continent can produce up to 500 tons of gold per year and accounts for a large share of the world’s diamonds. In April this year a 1,758-carat diamond, one of the largest in recorded history, was recovered in Botswana through TOMRA X-Ray Transmission (XRT) sorting technology. South Africa is also a crucial global supplier of chrome ore and ferrochrome, exporting 8.5-million tonnes of ferrochrome annually, mostly to China, and TOMRA’s sorting solutions are ideal for the production of these minerals.

In fact, TOMRA manufactures sensor-based sorting solutions for almost every mineral application: diamonds, industrial minerals, ferrous metal, non-ferrous metal, slag metals, and coal and other fuels.    

Speaking from TOMRA’s new South African headquarters, Helga van Lochem, Sales Manager of TOMRA Sorting Mining, said: “Opening new premises confirms TOMRA’s belief in southern Africa as a big player in the global market, and our commitment to supporting mining businesses here in the long-term. Investment in sorting solutions pays back handsomely, and now our new training facility in Johannesburg can empower customers to get the most from our profit-enhancing technologies.”