ON SITE
Operating in a challenging
environment
But it has not all been plain sailing for
AST, as they entered the market at a time
when the South African economy was
constrained, and the construction market
entering into a recession.
A big challenge in the area is the illegal
mining of sand, for which the Department
of Mineral Resources (DMR) is actively
working to prevent. Blackmore says that
the company has lost quite a bit of revenue
because of these illegal operations. The
company believes that the solution to
this problem is to prosecute the buyers
of the illegally mined products, who, if
fined or imprisoned and held responsible
for purchasing illegal products, would
prevent the material from entering the
formal sector. This would go a long way
to assisting the DMR in curbing and
controlling these illegal activities.
Another challenge, he says, is the
administrative procedure for permits and
licenses. “It takes a long time to get a
blasting license and we wasted a lot of
time mining mechanically before we carried
out our first blast. If I could do it again, I
would apply for the blasting license from
the outset,” says Blackmore.
There has also been a considerable
slowdown in the South African construction
sector across the board in the last three
years, which has impacted the purchasing
power of the smaller businesses and
offtakers. Blackmore says that the increase
in the cost of diesel has further contributed
to lower margins.
The mine is powered by a 225KVA
generator which runs the wet screen
(washing plant). Blackmore says that the
local Eskom transformer was stolen about
two years ago and was never replaced.
“We have applied for a reinstallation
but we believe that currently the cost is
prohibitively high, effectively excluding
small mining operations from being able to
access electrical supplies,” he says.
Advice for small scale miners
So, having been a small scale miner in
South Africa for more than four years, what
would Blackmore’s advice be to budding
entrepreneurs in the South African mining
industry?
AST didn’t buy their equipment directly
from OEMs, but rather converted used
equipment into the very effective fleet
keeping the mine going today. However,
Blackmore says it might be worth investing
in service contracts with OEMs, although it
might be more costly than maintaining the
fleet in-house. “Most importantly though, is
to have the means to weather an economic
storm like the one we are currenlty
experiencing,” he concludes.
Oliver Blackmore, general manager at Van Dykspruit.
18
OCTOBER 2019
www.equipmentandhire.co.za