Original equipment manufacturer FLSmidth is poised to supply a complete Coal Handling Preparation Plant (CHPP) for a junior mining company. “We have been given limited detailed engineering release, pending completion of project funding for execution, which is anticipated for early this year,” Terence Osborn, Capital Sales & Marketing Manager, Mineral Processing South Africa, says. “For FLSmidth to have this project is a significant testament to our ‘One Source’ capabilities in the coal sector.”

Osborn ascribes FLSmidth’s success in securing this project to its unique ‘One Source’ approach. This is based on the idea that “once a client has bought our technology, they are committed to a long-term relationship with us. We know that they will have a need for ongoing support from a spares, technology and even an operational maintenance point of view,” he says.

For example, FLSmidth currently has a major operations and maintenance (O&M) contract for five cement plants in Nigeria. It has also just completed a full two-year maintenance contract for a concentrator in Zambia. “We have commenced with an O&M contract for a crushing circuit, including a high pressure grinding roller, for a major South African platinum producer.”

In terms of the services that FLSmidth is able to offer in this regard, these range from ad hoc inspections to routine inspections, guidance with planned maintenance, spares supply and support services to client maintenance works, all the way to full O&M contracts, including spares supply.

FLSmidth has been operating successfully for over a century in Africa, where many mine sites are remote and hampered by a lack of infrastructure and services. “We not only have project references in a large number of countries, but have strong representation in all the major mining markets in Africa, across all the commodities,” Osborn says.

“Our spectrum is so broad that we have products for almost any type of flow sheet. Due to the remoteness of most of our African customers, it is important that we assist them not only with stockholding management and spares supply, but also to give guidance in terms of the reliability of the equipment,” Osborn concludes.