After five years of successfully growing its market in Botswana, mineral processing solutions provider Multotec will now be relaunching as a fully-fledged subsidiary – locally registered and rooted in Botswana.

“With our head office in Letlhakane and additional site offices at Jwaneng, Orapa and Letlhalane diamond mines, Multotec’s success in this region has been built on staying close to our customers,” says Kris Vergote, general manager for Multotec Botswana. “We are now also an active part of the local community and have created employment for 148 local residents.”

With 23 years of industry experience, Vergote is supported by metallurgist Kennedy Maputla in the role of sales and contracts manager; Allen Roussouw, the company’s field services manager, adds his 20 years of operational plant experience to the capacity of the management team.

According to Multotec Africa managing director Jaco du Toit, the company’s proximity to customers allows high levels of technical and maintenance backup; the Botswana premises include 1 350 square metres, with 350 of those under cover, dedicated to stockholding effectively reducing lead times and ensuring that a customer is never kept waiting for parts.

“Our personnel are at customers’ sites on a daily basis, so there is always strong technical expertise on the ground,” says Du Toit. “While the metallurgists and plant experts in the Letlhakane office manage our maintenance contracts, they are, in turn, supported by product specialists in the Johannesburg head office, who visit sites as and when required.”

Multotec Botswana also operates its own fleet of vehicles which allows the company optimum flexibility in terms of customer deliveries.

In a significant development that boosts local content, Multotec has built the capacity of its Botswana office to conduct light fabrication at the request of customers, rather than sending this work to South Africa. This kind of work, on screening media products as well as wear-related and peripheral products such as mill-feed chutes, discharge chutes and pipes, can now conveniently be done close to the customer during a scheduled plant maintenance shutdown. Mine staff can also be supported in the installation process.

Multotec Botswana’s commitment to the advancement of the country has also been witnessed in its various community projects. Last year, the company took part in a Round Table project to maintain the bus shelters used by many staff and customers. Education is one of its focus areas, and Multotec is engaging with Adopt-a-School to identify schools in the area that could be supported in years to come.