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MODERN MINING
March 2015
SURFACE MINING
CONTRACTING
feature
multitude of iron ore projects in countries such
as Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia
but nothing came of this, as the iron ore price
started to slide and the opportunities all dried
up. We remain optimistic about West Africa
though and are confident that it will eventually
once again become a major source of revenue
for us.”
In South Africa, Aveng Moolmans has con-
tracts at Kumba’s Sishen and Kolomela iron ore
mines in the Northern Cape and – in the same
area – at Tshipi é Ntle’s Tshipi Borwa manga-
nese mine. Across the country in Mpumalanga
it has secured a major, five-year contract at
Nkomati Nickel. This started in July last year
and is currently running very successfully.
Elsewhere in the Southern African region, it
is working in Namibia at the Langer Heinrich
mine (where it has been busy for the best part of
ten years) and at Phoenix mine for Tati Nickel
in Botswana. In the past, it has worked in both
Tanzania and Zambia but has no current con-
tracts in these countries.
“Most of our contracts are of substantial
size,” says White. “In fact, we have positioned
ourselves as a contractor able to handle the
demanding requirements of ‘blue chip’ clients
in terms of both the huge volumes and the high
safety standards that they invariably require.
This end of the market is far less crowded and
prices are far more realistic. Our biggest single
client is Kumba and I would estimate that we
are currently moving about 80 Mt a year at
Sishen and Kolomela – which is massive by
any standards. We have some of our biggest
plant on these jobs, including 200-ton payload
trucks and 500-ton shovels. Nkomati is also
involving substantial tonnages – around 30 Mt
of waste and ore a year.”
What of coal mining? “We have a long track
record in coal with our first contract in this field
dating back to the mid-80s – when we even
had a Marion dragline in our fleet,” responds
White. “But at the moment we have no coal
contracts on our books. One of the problems is
that with so many small coal projects around,
you’re tending to get anybody with a few items
of plant moving into opencast coal mining
contracting – earthmoving companies looking
to diversify, water well drillers and plant hire
companies among others. The result is that coal
has become the entry point for contract mining
with predictable effects on pricing.
“Encouragingly, though, some of the bigger
coal mining groups have identified the risks
of taking on just anyone as a contractor and
will only accept bids from the likes of Aveng
Moolmans and a handful of the other big play-
ers. Our absence from coal is just temporary
and I’m certain that coal will be very impor-
tant for us going forward – particularly with
new coalfields such as the Waterberg starting
to open up.”
On geographical diversification, White
emphasises that Aveng Moolmans will go any-
where in Africa – for the right projects and the
right clients. “We don’t rule out any countries.
We have an intensive risk assessment process
Cat 777F dump
truck working at the
Klipbankfontein pit,
Kolomela iron ore mine in
the Northern Cape.