Opencast mining, materials handling and environmental specialist Tenova Takraf Africa will manufacture and supply one of the largest spare parts – a top and bottom shell for a primary gyratory crusher – to JSE-listed miner Kumba Iron Ore’s Sishen mine, in the Northern Cape, this year.

Tenova Takraf Africa, formerly known as Bateman Engineered Technologies before Tenova bought the Bateman group in 2012, supplied the 60/109 primary gyratory crusher to the mine in 1980 and has been supplying spare parts to the crusher ever since.

While used in recent years as a backup primary crusher to the plant in the pit, the gyratory crusher is now increasingly being used on a permanent basis, resulting in greater demand for spare parts, says Tenova Takraf Africa client support services GM Paul Davies.

The crusher weighs 580 t and has a throughput of 3 500 t/h, with a 1.5 m feed opening and 2.8 m mantle diameter at its widest point.

Tenova Takraf Africa has been setting mile- stones in the supply of spare parts since the crusher was installed, Davies says. For example, a 1-m-diameter phosphor-bronze bush, with a height of 2 m and a weight of 2.3t, was supplied in 2004. The bush was, at the time, the largest phosphor-bronze component to be cast in Africa.

The crusher is supported by the company’s regional office, also in the Northern Cape, which provides fast-response aftermarket services based on an in-depth understanding of local mining conditions, the company notes.

Davies believes that the longevity of this primary crusher is testimony to the ruggedness and durability of the equipment the company supplies and its continuous support for the products.

He adds that clients have the assurance of stable and ongoing aftermarket support from Tenova Takraf Africa – “an important factor when considering the massive capital investment in mining operations”.

Other current work includes an 850 m Jetfloat walkway for a Botswana-based mining major’s slimes dam and the refurbishment of a Bradford Breaker (a crushing, sizing and cleaning machine) at a coal mine in Mpumalanga.

Other projects include materials handling work for petrochemicals major Sasol Mining’s Tweedraai expansion project, in Secunda; State-owned power utility Eskom’s Kusile power station, in Mpumalanga; and platinum miner Impala Platinum’s refinery boiler emissions abatement plant project in Springs, Gauteng, believed to be the first of its kind in Africa.

New Facility
Tenova Takraf Africa and subsidiary Tenova Delkor Sub-Saharan Africa, moved to new joint offices in Spartan, Gauteng, last month.

The 3 400 m2 facility includes 1 800 m2 of cus-tomer-focused stores and 500 m2 of laboratory space.

The stores facility holds spare parts for all Tenova Takraf Africa equipment and capital projects. It is equipped with a computerised inventory system and remote camera monitoring of all stores. A 10 t overhead crane with a 29 m span facilitates efficient turnaround of spare parts requirements.

The laboratory is fully equipped with sample-preparation and mineral-processing equipment and provides a convenient facility for the sizing of Bradford Breakers and other comminution testwork. This saves on the expense of on-site testwork and reduces turnaround time.

Through a partnership with laboratory services company Greentechnical, the laboratory also provides material flow laboratory testwork to determine the flow of solid material through chutes and into storage vessels. This information is required to accurately determine equipment design parameters.

Tenova Delkor’s solid/liquid separation work is also carried out in the laboratory. This includes sedimentation, filtration and clarification testwork for equipment sizing such as thickeners, horizontal belt filters, filter presses, pinned bed clarifiers and flotation cells.