From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report. Mining services company bulk handling division Tenova Takraf has designed a modular overland conveyor system that is quicker to install and can be relocated after use, helping to reduce costs and construction time for mines. Schalk Burger reports.

Schalk Burger:
Tenova Takraf Africa has designed a new overland conveyor system, which aims to address some of the key challenges faced by their clients, including high capital and labour costs, safety and risks, while enabling the redeployment of infrastructure and the exploitation of smaller and separate ore-bodies.

Tenova Takraf Africa MD Riccardo Tonini discusses the design philosophy behind the new system.

Tenova Takraf Africa MD Riccardo Tonini:
We have come up with a concept where we are able to address project demands around local economic development. The concrete modules we can manufacture locally and use local labour, so the surrounding communities see the impact of the projects. We are also able to address safety on site, because, as you can see in the time and motion study happening behind me, we are able to very quickly place these modules, as opposed to much longer conventional construction timeframe and cost competitive.

And an added advantage is the client is left with an investment that he can relocate. So, he hasn’t got a sunk-cost. He can use this in other areas as his mine develops or the mining plan changes.

Schalk Burger:
Technical collaborator and 4-PLY project execution MD Norman Collier talks about the deployment of the modular conveyor on existing mines.

Technical collaborator and 4-PLY project execution MD Norman Collier:
It’s definitely got a position in extending existing conveyors onto ash-dump systems or where you want to continuously grow your travel distance. In existing mining applications, it can be applied. We can also custom-make the mould to replace existing conveyor structures.

Conveying is a lot cheaper than trucking, but the flexibility that you get from trucking by mining an ore body here and then at a different space and at a different space is what makes trucking attractive. With this conveyor system being relocateable, you could have that capital investment, but can reuse by moving it from place to place.

Schalk Burger:
Concrete-mould developer and Allasso Construction owner Mark Sullivan talks about the production and logistics of the new conveyor system.

Concrete-mould developer and Allasso Construction owner Mark Sullivan:
They will be mass-produced under factory conditions at our precast yard in Chloorkop. When the end-user is more than 150 km away from our facility, we will setup a specific precast yard closer to the end-user to cut transport costs and time down.

We can modify them to suite the environment. They are inherently less onerous in terms of founding conditions than a conventional system. They are lighter, they are more rigid, so the requirement in terms of the founding is a lot less onerous. As far as the acid conditions are concerned, we use a high grade durability concrete, which performs much better under acidic conditions and requires little if no maintenance.

Shannon de Ryhove:
Other news making headlines this week: Blue Label probes prepaid water opportunities; and, Sibanye Gold eyes a R3-billion, 150 MW solar power station.

As the trend of moving into a prepaid world continues, JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms has started examining opportunities to enter the emerging prepaid water segment and replicate its successful prepaid electricity sales model.

Blue Label joint CEO Mark Levy

Gold miner Sibanye Gold plans to build a R3-billion, 150 MW solar power plant to ease its reliance on the costly and unreliable electricity supply from South Africa’s State-owned power utility Eskom.

Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman

That’s Creamer Media’s Real Economy Report. Join us again next week for more news and insight into South Africa’s real economy.