South Africa: ScrapeTec discovers dust protection potential
ScrapeTec had interesting encounters at this year’s Mining Indaba in Cape Town, the major African trade fair for mining. The tenor: Solutions are being sought to minimize the costs of dust generation and spillage.
Save costs: added value of ScrapeTec dust protection solutions
For those who didn’t know: South Africa is one of the most important mining countries in the world. The country is not only considered the largest platinum supplier. 30% of the world’s gold production and over 40% of chromium are also extracted there.
Added to this is the extraction of a wide variety of important industrial minerals. South Africa also has the largest hard coal deposits in Africa. Overall, the country is considered one of the most important producers of metallic raw materials and industrial minerals. That is why Mining Indaba in Cape Town is the most important mining trade fair in Africa.
This year ScrapeTec also visited there. Not to be found in the exhibitor directory, but always in the right place at the trade fair. In many discussions with representatives of large conveyor system operators, it soon became clear that the topic of dust protection has meanwhile also gained in importance in African countries.
Interviewees reported, for example, 4% material losses due to the formation of dust. They are looking for effective solutions to prevent this. Now that number doesn’t really sound relevant. In this case, however, if you look at the annual production volume of 480 million tons and the costs of 3,000 dollars per ton, you quickly recognize the gigantic dimensions.
ScrapeTec can provide a remedy here with its dust protection solutions around the transfer points, which have meanwhile been tried and tested internationally. Because the use of the innovative AirScrape conveyor skirting and the DustScrape as a tail skirting in combination with the DustScrape can reduce dust formation to a good 0%.
In addition to the cost savings, ScrapeTec was also able to generate interest in the health and safety issues associated with dust control during the encounters at the Cape Town show. The added values could also be communicated: cost savings through less downtime and no maintenance.
Dust protection is now an issue in South Africa and ScrapeTec now wants to address the potential in this market in the future. First contacts have been made and the prospects in South Africa are promising – also as far as the panorama in front of Table Mountain is concerned.
