FEATURES
After a slow start following the lockdown, the
sawmills at Mintroad is working full steam as the
orders for the company’s timber products increases
after a long winter slumber.
According to Roy Smith, owner and managing director at
Mintroad, the more than 60 employees have been operating full
steam for several weeks. Smith says that business is slowly
returning to normal. Just like the rest of the world, Mintroad has
had to deal with the impacts of Covid-19, but unlike a few of
their competitors, Smith has managed to steer the ship through
the tough times.
Mintroad has a long history that starts in Fordsburg,
Johannesburg in 1945 when Richard Smith (Roy’s father)
established the company. In 1952 Richard Smith bought land in
Robertsham, in the south of Johannesburg and the company
expanded into the supply of gum poles to the mining and
building industries. “In the early 1970s, treated poles were
added to the product range and a comprehensive range of gum
poles and sawn timber was distributed to the building, civil
engineering, road building, packaging and thatching industries
as well as building material merchants,” explains Smith.
Mintroad operates three Bell Tele Loggers as well as multi-purpose
heavy-duty handling machinery for its material handling.
In 1978, Mintroad installed its first timber treatment plant. Twelve
years later, Smith bought the Alrode operations from Taylor &
Mitchell, its main opposition in Gauteng. The assets included land
with railway facilities as well as an additional three timber
treatment plants. The sawmilling operations were expanded, and
products developed to supply nurseries and outdoor wood outlets.
A timber drying kiln was installed in 1994. Mintroad currently
operates one Creosote, two CCA (Tanalith) and one Flambor/
Tan-E treatment plants.
Mintroad Sawmills supplies both treated and untreated gum poles to
the market.
Pine trees arrive in the yard, and the bark is debarked at Mintroad.
www.timberiq.co.za // OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2020 19