NEWS
Atlas Copco has completed its acquisition the assets of Johannesburg-based Renegade Drilling Supplies , a South African manufacturer and distributor of drilling consumables for mining exploration . The decision to acquire the assets for an undisclosed amount was announced on 4 December 2017 . The business will be part of the rock drilling tools division Epiroc , the wholly-owned subsidiary of Atlas Copco to be listed on the stock exchange in 2018 provided shareholders ’ approval . Renegade Drilling manufactures and distributes mining exploration drilling consumables , such as drill rods , in-the-hole tools and diamond drill bits , throughout the southern African region . The acquisition will expand the company ’ s product portfolio and establish a regional footprint for manufacturing of mining exploration consumables .
Opencast coal mining contractor Liviero Mining recently purchased 24 VTevo Light Towers from Pilot Crushtec International ’ s Generac range of tower lights for four of its operational sites in Mpumalanga . Liviero plant director Hendrik Strydom lists Generac ’ s superior design and safety features , its telescopic rather than folding masts , and the four 290W floodlights as determining factors in the decision , along with Pilot Crushtec ’ s reputation for providing a comprehensive service . The towers are also extremely economical , with generators able to run for up to 240 hours on a single tank of diesel . “ All 24 units were ready within 18 hours of order confirmation ,” says Pilot Crushtec CEO , Sandro Scherf . “ The day after delivery , our product manager conducted detailed product training session , and the lights were up and running for the oncoming night shift .”
Afrimat Robyn Grimsley
Afrimat ACI : modest recovery for Q3 2017
Open pit mining company Afrimat , which provides industrial minerals and construction materials , has released the findings of the third Afrimat Construction Index ( ACI ) for the third quarter of 2017 . The ACI is a composite
Andries van Heerden , Afrimat CEO .
The ACI is a composite index compiled by renowned economist Dr Roelof Botha on behalf of Afrimat . index of the level of activity within the building and construction sectors , compiled by renowned economist Dr Roelof Botha on behalf of Afrimat , and calculated from nine different constituent indicators , including the FNB / BER building confidence index .
For the three months between July and September , the ACI managed to buck the trend of several other indicators of the level of economic activity in South Africa by notching up a modest improvement over the second quarter results .
Despite a further marginal decline in the real value added by construction , the Index bounced back from a level of 117.7 in the second quarter of 2017 to 120.8 in the third quarter . The improvement was driven mainly by the value of building plans passed by major municipalities ; retail sales values for hardware , glass and paint ; FNB / BER building confidence index ; and volume of building materials produced .
Significantly , six of the ACI ’ s nine indicators recorded improvements during the third quarter , with the only negative trends represented by the FNB / BER civil construction index , formal employment in construction , and value added by construction . However , in the national accounts , this last value only includes contractors and is therefore not representative of all building and constructionrelated activity .
Afrimat
In December , Afrimat released the Q3 results for the Afrimat Construction Index ( ACI ).
Botha also expresses some uncertainty as to whether the data accommodates the perceived shift in economic activity from larger companies to smaller companies . “ If you look at the hardware sales and the building materials trends in South Africa ,” he explains , “ then the construction sector should still be growing in real terms , even if it ’ s at a marginal rate , but they tell us that in the third quarter there was again a marginal decline in real terms .”
This , he explains , is the advantage of the ACI : it provides a balanced and realistic view of the level of activity in the construction sector by evening out the apparently contradictory trends that are often portrayed by the individual components that comprise the index . “ I really believe that this Construction
Index is a more accurate reflection of the activity in construction than any one of the individual indicators ,” he says .
The bulk of quantifiable data on the state of the economy supports the fact that South Africa ’ s GDP expanded by more than 1 %, in real terms , during the third quarter of 2017 ( year-on-year basis ). And the construction sector at large continues to outperform the economy , with the ACI having expanded by 20.8 % since the third quarter of 2010 ( the base period ), substantially higher than the rate of growth of 13.6 % for the economy ( as a whole ) during this period ( in real terms ).
The positive movement in the ACI is a trend that Dr Botha expects to continue into next year . “ Looking into the immediate future , the fourth
4 _ QUARRY SA | MARCH / APRIL 2018