ON THE COVER
Thirty years is a milestone that naturally encourages reflection. For Caldas Engineering, however, it is less a celebration of the company itself and more an opportunity to acknowledge the people and industries that have allowed the business to grow and evolve over three decades. “No company reaches 30 years without the support of its customers, employees, suppliers and industry partners," says Michael Da Camara, COO of Caldas Engineering. "The trust that customers have placed in us over the years is something we never take for granted." Founded in 1996, Caldas began with a clear objective: to provide reliable crusher wear parts and support to operators looking for a trusted alternative in the market. Although proudly South African, the business initially focused on exporting wear parts to customers around the world. As relationships developed and the company's reputation grew, South African operators began looking for the same support, responsiveness and technical expertise that international customers had come to expect. What followed was not the execution of a carefully crafted growth strategy, but rather a business evolving in response to customer needs.
Crushing targets, not safety standards
There are few aggregate operations in South Africa that combine production scale, technical sophistication and operational discipline as successfully as AfriSam’s Peninsula Quarry. Situated approximately 25 km north of Cape Town in the Tygerberg Hills, the quarry has earned a reputation as one of the busiest and best-run aggregate operations in the country, supplying large volumes of material into the Western Cape’s asphalt, ready-mix, building and civil construction sectors. Wilhelm du Plessis visited the site and experienced this premium quarry in operation.
Balancing geology and production
Situated near Malmesbury in the Western Cape, AfriSam’s Rheebok Quarry has established itself as one of the region’s key aggregate suppliers, producing high-quality crushed granite for major road-building and infrastructure projects throughout the province. Under the leadership of Acting Quarry Manager Luca Clayton, the operation has evolved into a technically focused quarry that combines high production volumes with carefully controlled mining and processing methodologies designed specifically around the challenges of an exceptionally competent granite resource. Wilhelm du Plessis visited this quarry.
The rise of multifunction machines in quarrying
In an operating environment marked by rising input costs, tighter margins and increasing pressure to do more with less, quarry operators are rethinking their equipment strategy. There is a noticeable shift from single-purpose machines to versatile, multifunctional solutions, according to Andre Kruger, Astec Industries regional product and sales manager. He reports increasing demand from the local aggregate sector for Astec-Telestack’s range of bulk material handling systems and Rock Breaker Technology’s Astec-BTI hydraulic breakers and boom systems.
