JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Slurry equipment provider Weir Minerals Africa has established an Aspir centrifuge manufacturing operation at its Middelburg, Mpumalanga facility, representing what the company says is a strategic investment to service its key customers in the heartland of South Africa’s coal mining and processing industry.

This followed Weir’s acquisition of Australia-based coal processing solutions provider Aspir in 2013, and represented the first step towards the full local manufacture and assembly of these centrifuges.

Weir Minerals Africa product manager Leon Toerien said the Middelburg operation would supply machines, spare parts and aftermarket support, as well as technical crews, which were already available.

“We will also be making subassemblies available on a service-exchange basis for the different types of centrifuges, in keeping with the trend by mining houses to increasingly outsource their equipment supply, service and maintenance requirements.

“The [proximity of the facililty to the] Mpumalanga coalfields will reduce lead times dramatically and allows us to be proactive in responding to our customers’ requirements,” he commented.

The addition also supported Weir Minerals’ solutions focus by expanding its product portfolio for the coal mining and processing industry and would provide the group with the opportunity to introduce innovations in the wet-end areas of the centrifuges.

“While the first units were imported fully from Australia, the next generation will effectively be manufactured locally. We will cast some components at the Weir heavy bay foundry, in Port Elizabeth. This will be a completely integrated offering which will be manufactured at our facility in Middelburg,” Toerien said.

Commenting on establishing a new manufacturing operation at a point when the global mining industry was in a downturn, Toerien said the timing was intentional, as it provided sufficient time to establish the operation and ensure it was up and running by the time the market turned around.

“Weir Minerals Africa has successfully implemented this strategy before,” he noted.

In addition to South Africa, Weir Minerals Africa would also be targeting market penetration in the broader coal sector in Africa, particularly in the burgeoning market of Mozambique.

“We are definitely considering diversifying beyond coal in the near future and will introduce the centrifuges to target the copper mining sector in Africa. We are excited by the integration of Aspir, which allows us to introduce the latest cyclone technologies and innovations to the African mining industry,” Toerien outlined.

He further revealed that Weir Minerals Africa had already supplied spare parts to a “major” coal operation in Mozambique and was currently in negotiations with other coal majors, indicating the increasing importance of the aftermarket as a growth area.