Rio-Carb, a leading manufacturer of R-C700 CrC wear liners and pipes for heavy materials-handling applications in the mining and allied resources industries, has announced that Wesco Engineering has been appointed as its official agent in Namibia.

Sias Suurd from Wesco Engineering has been tasked with overseeing Rio-Carb’s growing presence in the Namibian region. At Wesco based in Walvis Bay, he has overall responsibility for strategic growth and development, identifying new business opportunities, and determining marketing and business development strategies.

Suurd’s extensive experience in Namibia includes a stint as Support Equipment Engineering Manager at Husab’s Swakop Uranium Mine, near Swakopmund in the Erongo region in western-central Namibia, one of the largest uranium mines in the world.

Suurd’s responsibilities at Swakop Uranium included developing and managing the support equipment maintenance strategic plan, developing and managing the medium- and short-term support equipment maintenance objectives, and identifying, implementing, and applying best-practice maintenance strategies, standards, systems, and monitoring mechanisms in support of equipment production planning.

Suurd has also worked at BHP Billiton’s Wolvekrans and Klipspruit collieries, cutting his teeth at the mining giant as a Junior Engineer. He holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, Honours in Design Engineering, and a Master’s in Business Administration, all from the University of Pretoria.

Rio-Carb’s foray into the highly competitive Namibian market follows a particularly noteworthy 2016, in the course of which the company was awarded ISO 9001 certification, launched new products, and improved its internal and manufacturing processes. In 2017, it plans to add additional state-of-the-art equipment to its fully-automated welding facilities in Alberton, Johannesburg.