Enamel steel products manufacturer for architectural applications Vitrex recently supplied and installed 240 shower cubicles as part of the refurbishment of hostels at coal producer Igoda Coal’s Twistdraai colliery near Secunda, in Mpumalanga.

The contract included the construction of Vitrex’s Vitraflex modular cloakroom cubicles.

The order followed Vitrex completing a contract for the design, supply and installation of 520 shower and change room combination cubicles for Sasol Mining’s Igoda Thubelisha mine, in Trichardt, Mpumalanga, in 2012. The cubicles are fitted with new integral Vitraflex vitreous enamel steel benches.

Vitrex sales and marketing director Cristian Cottino says the Vitraflex shower cubicles for Twistdraai were supplied in graphite grey, as specified by Leon Venter Architects.

The cubicles feature Vitrex’s stainless steel telescopic anchors, providing easy installation, an important consideration for such a large contract. The anchors also eliminate conspicuous floor mountings, facilitate easy cleaning and improve hygiene through the reduction of bacterial growth at the base of the stiles.

“As for the first, equally large-scaled Thubelisha contract successfully completed by Vitrex, Leon Venter Architects specified our Vitraflex cubicles as it is durable, easy to clean, and hygienic – all of which were regarded as important factors in a mining environment,” he states.

The main contractor for the Twistdraai hostel refurbishment is Mesure Facilities. Diversified construction, infrastructure concessions and related services group Group Five Housing handled the 2012 Thubelisha contract.

The Twistdraai mine and washing plant forms part of Igoda Coal’s Secunda Collieries complex. It was opened in 1980 by Sasol Mining to produce coal for Sasol’s Secunda synthesis plant and since 1995 has been a three-shaft complex producing low-ash steam coal for export, as well as a middlings product for Sasol’s feed.

In 2006, ownership of Twistdraai was transferred to a new black economic-empowerment company Igoda Resources, a joint venture between Sasol Mining and Exxaro Resources.

Cottino says the extreme hardness and durability of Vitrex’s vitreous enamel steel ablution cubicles have, for decades, impressed specifiers throughout Southern Africa.

“These sought-after qualities are derived from the fusing of three layers of glass to sheets of steel at temperatures of over 800 °C at the Vitrex plant, in Jet Park.

“In addition, vitreous enamel surfaces are corrosion-proof, impervious to chemical spillage, and are graffiti- and fade-proof. Tests in Europe, involving as many as nine different materials, have shown that vitreous enamel steel provides the best anti-bacterial protection,” adds Cottino.

Vitrex completed the supply and installation of the new shower cubicles at Twistdraai in just over four weeks. “We were working to a tight installation schedule, involving several progressive deadlines that had to be met,” he concludes.