Weir’s ENDURON® HPGRs achieve energy savings of up to 40% compared with traditional SAG mill technology.
With West Africa’s mining industry evolving rapidly, Weir has built a solid footprint of local expertise, capability and capacity in the region to serve customers’ increasing demand for efficiency, sustainability, and technological integration.
“Weir has proactively invested in training and skills development to build talent to meet operational demands in the region,” explains Andrew Ayirebi, Weir's Regional Manager for West Africa. “This commitment ensures seamless service delivery, regardless of where our customers are located.”
The development of local technical capability has become crucial as the region’s mining sector embraces the need for local economic development while increasingly expecting OEMs to operate in proximity to their operations.
“In line with Weir’s philosophy of thinking globally and acting locally, we prioritise developing our people, who are key to delivering sustainable value,” Ayirebi says. “Our operations in Ghana and Senegal are fully managed by local teams, with an active presence in Mali, Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria.”
With its focus on customised solutions, Weir supports a wide range of commodities mined in West Africa, including gold, bauxite, iron ore and lithium. The company is strategically transitioning to configured-to-order (CTO) systems to further reduce lead times while improving the efficiency and stability of its supply chains.
“We partner with customers throughout the mining lifecycle, supporting our sustainable mining and processing solutions with on-site services and fast response times,” he says. He points to the wide range of operational areas where Weir adds value, including comminution, classification, slurry handling, and dewatering.
“In terms of comminution, grinding is one of the most energy-intensive steps in mining,” he explains. “Our ENDURON high-pressure grinding roll (HPGR) technology reduces energy consumption in comminution applications, saving up to 40% in energy consumption compared to traditional SAG mill technology.”
At Endeavour’s Lafigué open-pit gold mine in north-central Côte d’Ivoire, for instance, Weir provided its HPGR technology to save energy and reduce the carbon footprint – alongside consuming less grinding media – to achieve lower operating costs and ensure a more consistent throughput. The ENDURON® HPGR has delivered an operating availability of over 97% and will enable the mine to achieve US$2,6 million in annual energy savings. This equates to avoiding 18,500 t of CO2 emissions per year.
Investing heavily in R&D, Weir also enhances its equipment with WRT®, which reduces energy use in its WARMAN® pumping systems. The GEHO® range of positive displacement pumps, which transport high-density slurries over long distances, also minimises energy consumption.
Weir’s classification solutions ensure optimal particle size distribution, maximising the efficiency of downstream processes. Weir also leverages digital technology by applying its NEXT intelligent solutions to enhance the value of its equipment further.
“This gives mining operators real-time insights into equipment condition and performance,” says Ayirebi. “Our acquisition of digital mining solutions leader Micromine earlier this year further strengthens our ability to optimise customers’ operations.”
He highlights Weir’s vision that mining must go beyond mineral extraction to embrace safe, responsible and environmentally sustainable practices. This is as relevant in West Africa, he says, where the focus is on helping customers to deliver natural resources efficiently and sustainably.
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