In response to a recent surge in the demand for effective sampling solutions that support maximum productivity and acceptable quality, Multotec has increased the mobility of its field service workforce to deliver improved service to areas with the highest concentration of sampling equipment. Two main focus areas are the Witbank coal region in Mpumalanga and the iron ore/manganese mining regions of the Northern Cape.
“The overall skills shortage, coupled with a lack of sufficient servicing and maintenance, has placed increasing pressure on mine management to ensure optimum plant availability, while seeking to improve process or product quality,” Multotec’s Rolf Steinhaus says. “The skilled technical teams at our branches are experiencing increasing demand to implement maintenance contracts, which are being welcomed by our customers as a value-added service to augment their overall planned plant maintenance needs.
“In addition to field technicians permanently deployed at various customer operations, we have qualified technicians operating from our Middelburg, Kathu and Spartan facilities. These skilled technicians assure our customers of minimum plant downtime through planned maintenance, consistent sample integrity and rapid deployment in the event of a breakdown. Where in the past we would send technical support from our headquarters in Spartan, Gauteng, to attend to a breakdown in the Northern Cape, we can now deploy a qualified technician from our Kathu branch to attend to the breakdown within an hour.”
Multotec’s Middelburg branch recently entered into support contracts for screen panel maintenance and monitoring, as well as the maintenance of sampling equipment with several coal mines in the area, including Landau Navigation, Kleinkopje, Mafube, Tavistock and Optimum Coal. The maintenance contract with Optimum allows for a Multotec technician to be on-site full time and dedicated to the sampling station.
Multotec also has longstanding maintenance contracts with Middelburg Mines Services (MMS) for the Eskom sample payment station, providing effective service with valuable feedback on equipment performance as well as a speedy response when needed.
In the Northern Cape, Multotec’s Kathu branch is overseeing a maintenance contract for Kumba Iron Ore’s Kolomela mine in Postmasburg. The Kolomela maintenance contract also makes provision for a Multotec technician to be on-site full time to attend to the three sampling stations handling lumpy, fines and load-out product. Several more maintenance contracts
are being negotiated in this region.