HEAVY ENGINEERING
A core business
The steel specialists, foundries and other
companies that supply steel plate, castings
and forgings are absolutely crucial to the
success of the mining industry, with
consolidation ongoing and new products
appearing, reports Paul Moore
ost “original equipment manufacturers”
have not actually retained any hot
metal works within their facilities for
some years now, with only machining and
welding carried out on-site. A few have their
own foundries off-site, but even these
companies supplement their own castings
supply with outsourced products. High strength
steel plate is a whole market in its own right,
forming the raw material for wear resistant parts
such as truck bodies and the starting point for a
huge range of other parts. Likewise, there are a
range of specialists for the supply of large mill
rods and balls. The wear parts market itself is
dominated by specialists, supplying excavator
teeth, bucket lips, dragline chain, crusher
mantles and a host of other products. The
challenge for outsourcing in this part of the
industry is maintaining quality and consistency,
particularly if using multiple foundries/suppliers
in different parts of the world to supply the
same components or castings. Consolidation
among the wear parts section of the industry
has been rapid – with the likes of Austin
Engineering, Bradken and ESCO occupying a
powerful position. For special steels, the market
remains in the hands of the steel industry itself
such as SSAB, Tata, ThyssenKrupp and others.
Scale also creates challenges for suppliers of
castings and special steels. Today’s mineral
processors are continually facing the challenge
of mining lower grades of ore while still
remaining financially healthy. To remedy the
challenge they depend on increasing economies
of scale to maximise efficiency in almost every
segment of the mining process. Haul trucks and
primary crushers are continually getting larger,
while SAG mills are now up to 42 ft in diameter.
Mike Haugen, Senior Developer Engineer with
M
00 International Mining | JULY 2014
ME Elecmetal commented: “Equipment
manufacturers as well as end users are
depending now, more than ever, on the
expertise of component manufacturers to keep
their processing equipment operating at peak
efficiency. This is especially true for cast iron
and steel components. Whether its high
strength structural cast steel, or impact and
abrasion resistant cast irons and steel wear
parts, foundry engineers and metallurgists are
continually pushing their facilities to meet these
demands.”
He adds: “Providing large cast components
for mineral processing equipment does not end
when the casting is shipped. On-going field
follow-up, design changes, will continually
evolve depending on variables in the end user’s
process. Suppliers that continue to address
these changes, backed by sound engineering
decisions will be the preferred choice in this
demanding environment.”
Wear parts and buckets
The new MTG foundry in Monzón, Spain, is one
of the most modern in Europe, being equipped
with state-of-art technology for the production
of wear parts for mining and earthmoving
machinery with a current yearly production of
5,000 t. A new €13.5 million investment will be
distributed between 2014 and 2016 and will go
towards new infrastructure and machinery to
increase the production capacity to 14,000 t/y.
The plant is specialised in the production of
large wear parts, something which MTG points
as significant in the wear parts market given the
huge investment in technology necessary to
produce such parts. “This investment endorses
the company’s good business perspectives,
mostly to continue serving the construction and
Large ME Elecmetal castings
undergoing heat treatment
mining global markets. 98% of the company’s
sales are exports to countries such as Sweden,
Indonesia, Australia or Canada. These expansion
plans will help consolidate the strategic plan of
the company towards the future.”
South Africa’s DCD Venco - a specialist in the
fabrication, manufacture and refurbishment of
medium to heavy duty mechanical components has been formally named as the African
manufacturing partner for the Southwest
Group's new range of Gravico brand aftermarket
attachments for surface mining equipment,
which were officially launched in October 2013.
The Netherlands-based Southwest Group
specialises In the engineering and development
of a wide range of surface mining aftermarket
attachments worldwide. Locally, the
attachments will be branded as Gravico, and will
be manufactured exclusively at DCD Venco's 25
ha production facility In Newcastle, Kwa-Zulu
Natal. DCD Venco, which is a division of
international manufacturing and engineering
company DCD, has the capacity to fabricate and
manufacture components of up to 50 tons for
OEM equipment, which ranges from dump
trucks and dozers, to wagon tipplers, mills and
power station components. Southwest Group
Managing Director Louw Kriel states that the
Gravico line of surface mining aftermarket
attachments will include backhoe and front
shovel buckets varying in capacities ranging
from 7 m3 to 52 m3; wheel loader buckets from
10 m3 to 20 m3, dragline buckets from 30 m3 to
105 m3 and dragline rigging, to dump truck
bowls varying from 80 t to 363 t in capacity.
“The main area of focus for Gravico will be to
supply a high-end range of competitively-priced
attachments for equipment that is used during
the excavation and extraction processes in