ADRIAN SINGH GoldOre has experienced difficulty in expanding in the local market
Metallurgical technology company GoldOre has secured many international clients interested in its patented MACH Reactor. However, despite the success the company has garnered overseas, it has experienced difficulty in expanding in the local market.
The 100% black-owned company, with a South African founder, scores a Level 1 black economic empowerment rating and has a worldwide patent for the MACH Reactor technology originating from South Africa.
The reactor is a “completely plug-and-play and maintenance-free reactor”, with a lifespan able to match that of the project for which it is installed.
“The MACH Reactor brings efficiency and recovery improvement to operations,” says GoldOre director Adrian Singh.
He explains that it has been difficult to grow in the South African mining market, and it has a limited base.
However, the company has fared better in the international market, having completed many successful installations of its MACH Reactor technology in countries such as Mexico, Kazakhstan and Türkiye.
Singh says the technology has exceeded clients’ expectations in terms of performance and reactor life.
All installed MACH Reactors were commissioned with only remote assistance from GoldOre.
To tap into the global market, GoldOre pursued outsourcing, which enables it to better support its clients while keeping overheads in check.
“Outsourcing is also an excellent way of creating jobs and sharing the spoils of business with smaller companies and startups that are able to deliver a custom-developed product offering to GoldOre’s clientele.”
During the pandemic, GoldOre secured a Türkiye-based client. However, to “seal the deal”, GoldOre had to secure, for the very first time, a performance bond with a bank.
“This involved ‘investing’ a substantial amount of money in a trust account with the bank that the client could draw on if certain performance requirements were not met by GoldOre,” explains Singh.
The company secured the necessary bank guarantees and the client was happy to sign off the contract as fulfilled, without drawing on the bank guarantee.
In Kazakhstan, GoldOre expanded its financial product offering by signing several rent-to-buy deals with clients spanning a 24-month period. The company usually either leases or sells its MACH Reactor technology.
GoldOre continuously embraces different financial models and the flexibility to custom-design business deals to client requirements, which has been a key factor in the company’s weathering of the pandemic.
For a client in Mexico, it tailored its MACH Reactor to address the client’s concerns on the equipment’s power consumption.
“There were several elements of the design that were originally included as fail-safe measures, as there was some uncertainty at the time as to how the MACH would perform in real-world conditions,” says Singh.
After more than nine years of operation for the oldest MACH installed, very minimal wear was seen during the inspection of the venturis; consequently, GoldOre removed the “wicket keeper” venturis, which resulted in a reduction in power of about 60%.
It also found that venturi speeds could be reduced slightly so that they were still supersonic, but only just over MACH 1, which yielded a further 10% of power reduction.
The total power reduction of 70% makes the MACH Reactor more practical and affordable to install while contributing towards reducing the operation’s carbon footprint, explains Singh.
Navigating Rough Waters
Although the impact of the Covid pandemic resulted in a lull in market activity for many businesses, GoldOre saw this lull as an opportunity to further research and development goals and invest in its future.
This included the product development of the world’s largest cavitation reactor at a capacity of 3 000 m3/h through a single unit.
It also included the world’s smallest hydrodynamic cavitation test rig – developed for commercial laboratory testing of limited-quantity drill core samples, as well for use in research institutions and at universities.
GoldOre’s goals for 2023 are to break into new markets, and find new applications for the MACH Reactor.