Modern Mining October 2015

COVER STORY

possibility that we could sell our fleet to the cli- ent. On the whole, we’ve changed our thinking on Mozambique. A few months ago, we saw it as a problem, now we’re increasingly looking at it as an opportunity.” Giving a quick round-up of MCC’s other con- tracts, Colling says that within South Africa the company is working at the Mogalakwena platinummine near Mokopane, the Pilanesberg platinum mine in North-West Province, the Dorstfontein East colliery in Mpumalanga, the Tharisa chrome mine near Marikana and the Aganang limestone mine near Lichtenburg. In Botswana, it was appointed as the mining contractor at the Karowe diamond mine in the Orapa area at the end of last year. “All the contracts are going well although at Mogalakwena the contract is nearing comple- tion,” says Colling. “We are obviously talking to Anglo American Platinum in respect of an extension at Mogalakwena, where we are responsible for about 10 to 12 % of the mine’s volumes, and are naturally hopeful that the relationship will continue.” Colling also mentions that MCC has two significant leasing contracts with Rockwell Diamonds, which have seen MCC equip- ment being deployed to the Saxendrift and Remhoogte properties on the Middle Orange, while in Namibia it is renting machines to Vedanta’s Skorpion zinc mine. “The leasing/ rental business offers us opportunities to maxi- mise the use of our assets and we’re in the process of extending our leasing and rental ser- vices to both Zambia and the DRC,” he says. “Rental and leasing contracts provide an excel- lent entry point to markets and we see this side of the business growing.” Looking ahead, Colling predicts the mar- ket could well get tougher before it gets better. “There are a handful of prospects on the hori- zon – the new Boikarabelo coal mine in the Waterberg is one example – but generally there is a dearth of new work. So a major part of our strategy is to work with existing clients to see whether there are opportunities for increasing volumes – after all, the best customers are the ones we are already working for. “Geographically, we’re open to working all over Africa but the African mining market is also not very buoyant at the moment,” he con- tinues. “Even further afield, we are increasingly interested in India, which is a huge economy. Certainly, there is scope for us to get involved there, initially perhaps just on the basis of sell- ing our skill set rather than taking machines over. Geographical diversification, however, is probably still some way off. In the meantime,

we have to work with the Southern African market as we find it and we’re doing this quite successfully. Our order book has grown over the past few months and I’m confident that we can continue to make progress despite the headwinds that we’re undoubtedly facing due to the commodities slump.” 

One of MCC’s Cat D10 dozers at a platinummine in the Western Bushveld.

October 2015  MODERN MINING  21