Modern Mining November 2017

CONSULTANTS/ PROJECT HOUSES

remains focused on Africa. “Most of the EPCM ‘houses’ that started in South Africa have made a conscious effort to expand internationally,” Naylor observes. “By con- trast, we still see ourselves as African specialists. We are quite comfortable working outside of Africa – and indeed have completed projects in the Middle East, Central Asia and Central and South America – but we don’t have a specific drive to target global markets.” He adds that SENET has also retained its indepen- dence. “Quite a few of our South African competitors have been taken over by large international groups whereas we remain a privately owned South African company.”

energy field. We have some promising pros- pects and are very optimistic that we will land our first orders shortly.” On the subject of materials handling, Naylor emphasises that this remains a core skill of SENET and says the company is currently putting a fresh focus on this part of its busi- ness. “We have executed some of the biggest materials handling projects in Africa, supply- ing conveyors of up to 10 000 t/h capacity and belt feeders able to withdraw from 100 000 tonne mass flow silos, to give just a couple of examples. Our objective is to remain a leader in the materials handling field and, among other things, we are currently rejuvenating our entire equipment range.” Looking at the prospects for SENET, Naylor is very positive. “We have weathered the reces- sion very well – without the need to retrench any staff – and our current order book looks healthy,” he says. “We have some big contracts coming to an end, such as Yanfolila, and it is, of course, a challenge to replace relatively large projects of this type given current market conditions. But we see opportunities all over Africa. For example, we have work lined up in Zambia and the DRC, we’re engaging with an iron ore client in Sierra Leone and gold clients in Guinea, Senegal and Ethiopia, and we also see opportunities in the potash field. We’re con- fident that SENET will continue to prosper and lead in African mining, as it has done for nearly three decades now.” Photos courtesy of SENET (unless otherwise acknowledged)

Although the original founders of SENET, Jim Hollywood and Neil Senior, still serve on the company’s board (as respectively Chairman and Vice Chairman), the company’s MD (since 2013) is Hugo Swart, a mechanical engineer who joined SENET in 2003. Senior executives on the technical side of the business report- ing to Swart include Marius von Wielligh (Engineering Director), Pieter Theron (Projects Director) and Philemon Bundo (Process Director). A new initiative by SENET is SENOPS, a company established to undertake plant oper- ation and maintenance on a contract basis. The venture is very new and, although it is conducting some operational readiness work in the DRC, at this stage has not secured any plant operations contracts. It is managed by Paul Thomson, a very well-known figure in mining circles who has vast experience in out- sourced plant operations, having at one time served as MD of South Africa’s biggest player in this field. In another diversification, SENET is talk- ing to many of its clients about renewable energy. “We think there is a big market for solar PV installations in the African mining space, to supplement and offset the cost of either grid or genset power,” Naylor explains. “We are looking at systems offering up to around 5 MW in capacity. Leading this initia- tive is our Engineering Director, Marius von Wielligh, who worked as the MD of a com- pany that was very active in the renewable

The CIL plant at the Twangiza gold mine in the DRC ‘s South Kivu Province. The plant was built by SENET and commissioned in 2011.

A new initiative by SENET is SENOPS, a company established to undertake plant operation and maintenance on a contract basis.

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November 2017  MODERN MINING  39