Modern Mining June 2019

COVER STORY

– and generally typically much harder – than those encountered in other countries,” says Goosen. “The Osborn equipment is therefore designed to handle the conditions that charac- terise hard rock mining.” By way of example, Goosen notes that Osborn started manufacturing in South Africa under licence to Telsmith as far back as 1950. “We soon found out that some of the Telsmith machines, though superbly engineered, had to be adapted to cope with our hard rock, ulti- mately becoming, to all intents and purposes, South African products. We’ve reached the point today where around 90 % of what we sell is designed and manufactured here in South Africa with the balance coming from our sister companies overseas.” The product line-up available from Osborn includes crushing equipment for both hard rock and coal, apron, pan and grizzly feed- ers, screens, stackers and scrubbers. The single biggest machine manufactured locally is the Osborn 80 x 60 single toggle jaw crusher which weighs 140 tonnes and can handle up to 2 x 1,5 m feed size. Osborn is thought to be the only South African manufacturer of large crush- ers and its crushing range comprises single and double toggle jaw crushers, cone crushers and entire modular crushing plants. Surajlall, who joined Osborn last year, says that while Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for around 70 % of Osborn’s business, the com- pany’s equipment is to be found even further afield. “We’ve done very well in the CSI coun- tries, notably Russia and Kazakhstan, as well as Turkey and Spain, and we’ve even supplied to China, a country which typically exports mining and processing equipment rather than importing it,” he says. He adds that Osborn is also becoming more active in Australia through its local dealer network and is already deliver- ing positive results A particularly big seller at the moment for the company is its range of apron feeders. The feeders are offered in sizes from 900 mm wide to 3 500 mm wide and with either elec- tro-mechanical or hydraulic drives and are constructed using traditional D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8 and D9 track components. Recent orders have come from Petra’s Cullinan mine (which also employs Osborn screens and crush- ers), the Bisie tin mine in the DRC (currently under development by Alphamin Resources), an iron ore mine in the Northern Cape and a Spanish copper mine. Says Surajlall:“There’s no question that our apron feeders are world- class products and this is confirmed by our customers, many of whom have used products

An Osborn cone crusher. Osborn is thought to be the only South African manufacturer of large crushers.

from other manufacturers in the past but who now regard the Osborn machines as the benchmark.” Elaborating on the order from the Northern Cape iron ore mine (which is currently being fulfilled), Goosen says that Osborn’s ability to offer a bespoke design for what is a chal- lenging installation was instrumental in its winning the contract. “The problem was the space available on site which meant that even the smallest standard-size apron feeders were not suitable,” he states. “We offered the cli- ent a new custom-designed smaller size feeder and our proposal was accepted. This contract highlights one of our core values, which is innovation. We are always prepared to work with customers to accommodate the specific

Osborn’s apron feeders are offered in sizes from

900 mmwide to 3 500 mm wide and with either electro- mechanical or hydraulic drives.

June 2019  MODERN MINING  19