Tag Archives: Kwatani

Kwatani bids farewell to founder and chairman, Gunter Vogel

Equipment maintenance, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining people, Mining services, , , ,

Engineer and self-made industrialist Gunter Vogel, founder and chairman of South African vibrating equipment manufacturer Kwatani, has passed away in Johannesburg after a long illness, the company confirmed. He was 75 years old.

Kwatani said: “Vogel was a well-known personality in the mining and manufacturing sectors, having acquired Joest South Africa, in 1988. It was then a small company importing motors from Germany for the assembly of small vibrating equipment. He built this modest business into a fully independent local original equipment manufacturer (OEM) which was rebranded as Kwatani in 2016. With its focus on ‘engineering for tonnage’, the business has become an industry leader in vibrating equipment solutions through South Africa and beyond.

“Born in Germany in 1944, he studied mechanical engineering before coming to South Africa as a young man in his early 20s. Colour-blindness had denied him a career as a pilot, but he pursued his engineering career with passion and ingenuity. According to his daughter Kim Schoepflin, Kwatani’s chief executive officer, he also loved mathematics and was convinced that everything had an engineering solution.

“Schoepflin said: “His success relied on this commitment to quality, technology and most of all his commitment to customers. He loved being on the mine site and was never shy to get his hands dirty working through the night to resolve whatever the problem was. He was so devoted that very often he would drive 12 hours through the night at the drop of a hat when the telephone rang.””

“She remembers him as a passionate teacher, giving interesting presentations on screen sizing that left a lasting impression on many customers in mining. “Even today, some of our competitors and suppliers use and refer to his sizing philosophies,” she noted.

“An enthusiastic reader and philosopher, Vogel also loved adventure and the African bush. Perhaps his most daring trip – together with his wife Maria – was by Landcruiser from Johannesburg to Hamburg, Germany. The 30,000 km trip took them seven months and traversed 29 countries on three continents.

“He was also a free thinker who opposed racial discrimination and devoted many years to supporting and building black businesses during apartheid. Significantly, Vogel laid the foundation for Kwatani’s transformation into a B-BBEE Level 1 company.

“Schoepflin said: “Being an exceptionally ethical man, he always fought for what he believed was right. He stood by his word and did not subject himself to any rules or regulations that he did not believe in. He remains a legend in the industry in which we operate.””

Kwatani registers global mining demand for vibrating equipment

Base metals, Bulk handling, Coal technology, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metals, Steel and iron ore, , , , , , , , , ,

Kwatani’s vibrating screens and feeders are continuing to find a market in the mining industry, with a number of orders recently secured from diamond, coal, zinc and platinum operations.

The company’s custom engineered products are now in some of the world’s largest mines, and many customers have standardised on their screens to ensure lowest cost of ownership and high performance, according to General Manager, Sales and Service, Jan Schoepflin.

“While our base and core market are in Africa, the global demand for Kwatani products has grown rapidly. A leading diamond mining company in Russia is very pleased with Kwatani screens at their newest operation and specified Kwatani for future projects,” Schoepflin says.

In another order from a large diamond operation, this time in South Africa, the customer replaced the last of its competitor screens with a Kwatani unit. Schoepflin says this is because it has enjoyed years without unplanned stoppages by using Kwatani screens.

At a local brownfield diamond expansion project, the company’s multi-slope banana screens were matched to the available plant footprint, raising throughput from 250 t/h to 500 t/h and, later, breaking the mine’s tonnage record.

“While screening in heavy minerals is Kwatani’s stronghold, the company has moved extensively into coal, supplying the country’s (South Africa’s) leading coal producer with no fewer than 45 items of large screening equipment, including out-sized 4.3-m-wide units,” the company said.

Other recent coal-related orders included run-of-mine screens for a medium-sized coal mine in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Again, competitor equipment was replaced by custom designed screens with optimised deck angles, which significantly increased tonnage, according to the company.

“The positive results achieved with the Kwatani equipment also led to additional orders for the mine’s expansion,” Kwatani said.

For world largest zinc mine, Kwatani was contracted to supply all the screens, while, at Africa’s largest iron ore mine, the company recently completed two projects, renewing existing equipment with updated solutions and replacing 24 items of competitor equipment.

“The platinum sector is also keeping Kwatani busy, not just in South Africa but over the border in Zimbabwe too,” Kwatani says. A recent turnkey solution focused on platinum by-product chromite, where the company supplied a complete solution which included feeder, dryer and screen to treat chromite of 45 micron size at 15 t/h.

Schoepflin said: “Our screens have been a popular choice for modular gold plants going to West Africa as well as Central and South America. We also supplied to two of Africa’s largest copper producers in Zambia, to a tanzanite producer in Tanzania, and repeat orders to a manganese mine in Ghana.”