January 2012

In our comment this month, the editor looks at government's dismal failure in its promised infrastructure spend. Clearly the state is lacking in the capacity to deal with the basic responsibilities of implementing many of its policy commitments. It is good news that National Treasury admits that infrastructure spending by many national and provincial departments is lagging behind budget allocations, but this issue needs to be seriously addressed in the short term. Action needs to be taken in all three tiers of government, and those responsible for holding back on these funds should be disciplined and, better still, dismissed. Backlogs and bottlenecks have to be unlocked; there is no more time for excuses.

LiuGong, one of the world's largest wheel-loader manufacturers, has opened its Southern Africa headquarters in Johannesburg. The impressive facility will serve as the company's sales hub, technical support and spare parts distribution centre. What was particularly impressive at the official opening was LiuGong's D-Series crawler excavator which was introduced to the local market. Local operators were challenged to demonstrate their skills by painting the LiuGong logo onto a board - not an easy task - but they were assisted in no small way by the hydraulics and easy operation of the massive 936D unit.

Modern Quarrying attends the prestigious official launch and meets up a few days later with LiuGong's regional manager Paul Lee.

Great Karoo Crushing (GKC), a JV between Haw & Inglis (H&I), has grown into a quarry operator of note. The company is operating a Sanral-owned quarry for the major 24 km road project on the N2 Section 18, between Setebe, Komkhulu and Viedgesville, in Umtata. MQ interviews GKC director Wynand Swart, in Umtata, who has purchased several Sandvik hydrocones. He currently has six units in operation on his various plants. On the site we visited, together with Sandvik's technical people, he is operating a CS430 Hydrocone, which he says is performing well above expectations.

Modern Quarrying catches up with Aspasa/Sarma director Nico Pienaar to discuss some significant plans for 2012 and beyond. The Aspasa About Face and ISHE audits are due to start shortly, and these audits, which really should be seen as an invaluable form of education, have been revised considerably to aid and assist the quarries that are being audited.

Looking back on the 2011 ISHE audit, there were several surprises, which have shown that the implementation of changes to legal requirements, as well as adequate machine guarding and lockout compliance are still challenges for members. On the readymix side, Sarma has introduced a new service to assist members in achieving and maintaining quality standards in their plants. Details are available in this issue.

Modern Quarrying interviews HPE Africa general manager Neil Sauls on the reasons for this Hyundai earthmoving equipment distributor's increased market share in all facets of its business. The company has added to its exclusive Hyundai heavy-duty equipment range with the new and improved -9 Series, which Sauls believes, will set the benchmark in excavator technology.

AfriSam's CEM 11 32.5BL cement has been specified for two contracts being undertaken by Stefanutti Stocks Roads and Earthworks on the N2 highway in Mpumalanga. The cement, produced by the company's Ulco plant in the Northern Cape, has best met the required C3 specs in tests conducted as the on-site Civilab laboratory in terms of unconfined compressive strength, indirect tensile strength and wet/dry durability. Rietspruit Crushers is supplying the G5 aggregate supplied for these contracts.

In our New Equipment feature, we start off with Osborn Engineered Products, which recently showcased a range of world-class equipment at its open day. One of the machines in this line up, which has already made its mark in the industry, is the BTI hydraulic hammer range.
Also showcased were the Horizontal Directional drills, and the Roadtec Shuttle Buggy.

More on new equipment is Bell Equipment's distribution agreement signed with Liebherr, which sees Bell distributing Liebherr's tracked hydraulic excavators ranging from 20 t to 85 t - the R906C and R974C machines - into the southern African and African markets. The mainstays of the Liebherr excavator range were in display at BESSA's head office in Jet Park, where some 150 customers officially welcomed the new deal.

Designed by the owner for the owner, Terex has launched its new TKB840 backhoe loader, claimed to be the most versatile and efficient backloader ever. The TLB has a new curved boom, which provides greater clearance in reaching over obstacles, whiles its reduced height provides increased transport clearance. The unit is being distributed by ELB Equipment.

In-Pit Crushing and Conveying (IPCC) is steadily attracting attention from open-pine mine operations who recognised the potential reductions in fuel, carbon dioxide emissions, dust, noise, labour, tyre consumption and time saved this technology. In this article, we look at Sandvik's PF300 fully-mobile IPCC system, which features a unique stability concept.

Important industry event

IQSA Conference and Exhibition
19-20 April: Gateway Hotel, Umhlanga

The IQSA is looking at a conference theme with a difference this year, and as IQSA secretary and conference organiser Terry Pop says, "it's time for change!" At an exhibitor meeting held a few days ago, the idea was that the exhibitors look at a theme designed around Space. "We want to have some fun," she says, and has asked regular and potential exhibitors to come up with creative ideas for their stands.

As the space available at the Gateway doesn't warrant the usual indoor built-up stands, the IQSA team will be letting all exhibitors know the final decision in terms of tables, etc, by the end of January.

The fun evening sponsored by Osborn, will be held at the Greensleeves Medieval Kingdom Camelot in Hillcrest, where we'll experience the bawdy days of good old King Henry. Please note that all exhibitors are included in this wonderful festive feast!

Please note that there is a call for papers, and should you be interested in presenting at the conference, please send a short abstract to the IQSA.

For further details, contact Terry at the IQSA on: (011) 791 6655, or email: iqsa@global.co.za.