Fittings are an important component of a pipeline and, as a premium-quality pipes manufacturer, we wanted to make sure that our fittings were of the same quality standard as we subscribe to with our pipes,” CEO Renier Viljoen tells Engineering News & Mining Weekly.
To shift manufacturing in-house, Rare invested in four fabrication welding machines and cutting equipment that allows the group to fabricate fittings of up to 630 mm at its factory in Meyerton, Gauteng.
The company dipped into its existing skills pool to expand its manufacturing capabilities, redeploying existing welders with the requisite skills and experience in producing fittings. “The quality is managed by existing skilled personnel and is just an extension of our current quality control procedures,” Viljoen notes.
The Meyerton workshop is now capable of producing high-density polyethene (HDPE) pipes of up to 1 000 mm in diameter for mining, water and gas applications, as well as fabricated fittings, such as tees, laterals, segmented bends, and saddle fusion reducing tees and crosses. The company also produces stub and flanged pipe spools at its in-house welding department.
Pipes are certified to SANS ISO4427-2 and SANS ISO4437-2.
Viljoen says Rare is continuously looking to add new, top-quality product lines to its existing offering for mines, infrastructure and water projects across Africa. “Quality is the most important aspect when it comes to our products. We religiously follow international best practices and hope that by doing so, it will lead to other HDPE pipe manufacturers following our example.”
The company sees the export markets as its main area of growth, particularly in the mining industry, which has been relatively robust, holding up under marketplace stresses experienced globally with commodity prices generally trending upwards.
Locally, though, Viljoen notes that there is still a lag in government expenditure for projects. Nevertheless, Rare is opening an office and warehousing facility in the Western Cape in September to better service clients in the region.
Rare, established in 1975, initially focused on supplying carbon steel products to the petrochemicals industry. It has since evolved into a complete pipelines solution provider, servicing markets in Zambia, Ghana, Botswana, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, besides South Africa. The company in 2018 established an office in the Copperbelt in Zambia.
The South Africa-manufactured pipes are found on mining sites across Southern Africa.
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