Modern Quarrying July-August 2016

MODERN QUARRYING

July - August 2016

ON THE

COVER

frimat supplies a broad

range of construction

materials and industrial

minerals, ranging from

mining and aggregates,

metallurgical dolomites, agricultural lime,

concrete products (bricks, blocks and pav-

ers) to readymix. It has established a firm

foothold in contracting services, which

comprise drilling and blasting, mobile

crushing and screening. Afrimat’s recent

acquisition of Cape-based Cape Lime has

further extended its diversification into

additional mineral markets, pharmaceu-

tical supply and the construction sector,

through the burnt and milled lime and

dolomite products.

Backed by over 50 years’ experience,

the group’s growing geographical foot-

print covers vast sections of urban and

rural Southern Africa, with its integrated

product offering distributed across the

Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-

Natal, Free State, Gauteng, Limpopo,

Mpumalanga (with its latest Mbombela

branch launch taking place in early July),

Northern Cape, and Mozambique. Its five

key divisions include:

• Mining & Aggregates

• Industrial Minerals

• Contracting International

• Concrete Products

• Readymix

Afrimat is able to service projects of any

scale from major infrastructure and con-

struction projects for state-owned enter-

prises and parastatals through to small

private sector contracts. Its consistently

low staff turnover has resulted in a deep

skills pool, many of whom

has inter-

viewed over the years.

Genuine transformation, starting with

staff and management and extending to

community upliftment, is integral to the

group’s philosophy and sustainability, and

a genuine company this is and always has

been.

Afrimat brought together two indus-

try specialists founded in 1963 and 1965

respectively – Prima, which mainly sup-

plied aggregates to the Cape construc-

tion and road building industries – and

Lancaster, which was dominant in quarry-

ing and the supply of concrete blocks and

bricks in northern KwaZulu-Natal and the

eastern Free State.

Looking back, the black-empowered

group successfully debuted on the JSE in

November 2006, immediately indicating

execution of its acquisition strategy when

it placed the company under cautionary.

The shares listed strongly at R8,05 to give

Afrimat a market capitalisation on listing

of R1-billion. New contracts worth some

R50-million in line with forecast pro-

jections set the group well on the way

towards meeting its 2007 forecast reve-

nue of R471,4-million.

recalls that with the prelisting

placement almost 30 times oversub-

scribed, disappointed applicants and

the public were left to buy shares on

listing. As a result, some two hours after

listing, more than 2,6-million shares

had changed hands in 767 separate

transactions with an aggregate value of

R21,4-mllion. An amount of R125-million

was raised in the prelisting private place-

ment of 25-million shares at R5,00/share.

With R50-million going to founders of

the group who had sold small stakehold-

ings to facilitate the listing, new capital

of R75-million went directly to eliminate

gearing on the balance sheet – a financial

strength that firmly positioned the group

in its aggressive acquisition strategy.

At that time, CEO Andries van Heerden

told

that he was grateful that the list-

ing was “an absolute blessing. I used to

Since its listing on the Main Board of the JSE in the Construction and

Building Materials sector in 2006, leading open pit mining company

Afrimat has grown by an average of more than 21% per year since

2009.

Dale Kelly l

ooks at the reasons behind this year-on year

achievement.

Afrimat celebrates

a decade of success

A view of the Glen Douglas primary

crusher (centre) and intermediate

stockpile from the stockpile area,

with the wash plant on the left.