Multotec Services Mozambique Lda, recently celebrated 10 years of operating in the Southern African country, where it established a branch in the Tete Province for its coal field clients. In addition, the company services graphite, mineral sands and precious stone mining customers in other parts of the country as well as providing plant maintenance to a platinum mine in Zimbabwe via a contract from the Multotec Group.
Multotec Services Mozambique is a subsidiary of The Multotec Group, which is headquartered in South Africa and has, for the past 50 years, helped the world’s biggest mining houses process minerals more efficiently, effectively, and reliably.
The company’s mineral processing equipment is used to optimise recoveries and reduce cost of ownership in mineral processing plants in 100 countries on six continents.
Coal project opportunities
“The Mozambique branch was initially established to harness the opportunities presented by the coal projects which were getting off the ground from 2010. Establishing a local presence allowed us to be closer to our clients to offer timely and better service,” says Multotec Services Mozambique Branch Manager, Kumbirai Mapingire. From its humble beginnings with only two employees, the branch now employs 55 local people.
KumbiraI says that they provide turnkey mineral processing solutions to customers countrywide, from supplying, maintaining and condition monitoring its full range of processing equipment, to the fabrication of various steel components, such as chutes, pipes, and ceramic-lined cyclone parts.
Expanding the facilities
“Recently, we built a new ceramic workshop, bringing this area up to 1.5Ha, which includes a workshop, ceramic tiling shop, sandblasting unit and painting shop. The larger tiling facility allows all the processes to be undertaken in-house resulting in a quicker turnaround time for refurbishments.”
The company has a variety of heavy-duty equipment employed for fabrication of mineral processing solutions, including a hydraulic press brake, a cone plate roller, a steel plate roller, a hydraulic swing beam, six hydraulic HDPE welding machines, a fixed sandblasting unit and a mobile sandblasting unit.
Pipe fabrication
Kumbirai adds, “An additional, albeit smaller line of our business is pipe fabrication and installation of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) piping systems. We were the supplier of choice for a project at a mine in Chirodzi, where we did all the piping for the plant when the mine was first established. Since then, we have undertaken several other pipe installations at this operation, including waterlines and slurry lines. We have also carried out HDPE piping projects for several other clients.”
He adds that he and the team are particularly proud of their safety record, as the company operates strictly in accordance to mining health and safety regulations. “As a result, we have not recorded any injuries since we started operating in Mozambique.”
Competitive edge
Multotec Services Mozambique’s operations are backed by technical support from the head office in South Africa. However, the company’s local presence gives it a competitive edge in terms of servicing clients in Mozambique, as it is able to bring Multotec’s large-scale expertise and experience, as well as world-class equipment and products, to the local market.
“The recognition that we receive from our clients comes in the form of repeat business. We benchmark ourselves against the fact that our clients keep coming back to do business with us, in the knowledge that they will be accorded the same standard of service they have received from us through all these years,” he concludes.
