We are now starting to see some real activity in mining.”
That is the observation of Barloworld CEO Tony Phillips, whose
company manages the ubiquitous Caterpillar brand in the Southern
African region.
Phillips’s calculation is that upcoming mining projects in
the region are generating a high level of demand for
equipment.
“We have seen a marked increase in mining and construction
acti- vity in Southern Africa, which is illustrated by the Southern
African equipment order book rising from R1,2-billion to nearly
R2,4-billion,” he says. He complains of theequipments use in cement process equipment
industry continuing to be bedevilled by a shortage of off-road
tyres, and cites this as one of the reasons why Barloworld’s
order book for equipment is as large and long as it is. There has
been a long-standing global shortage of tyres for large mining
equipment.
Barlostone crusher manufacturers in germanyworld has, however, placed orders worth $906-million on
Cater-pillar, which have still to be fulfilled and Phillips says
that the good news is that virtually all of these – totalling
$868-million – will be deli- vered in 2007.
This will take place while demand crushing for sand productioncontinues to grow in
intensity.
For Caterpillar opencast equipment alone, Phillips calculates that
demand will top R3,6-billion in the next two years and points out
that the mining-project outlook in South and Southern African has
strengthened markedly. On the Zambian Copperbelt alone, he
estimates thamanganeseore ore processing plantt demand for R425-million worth of equipment will be
upcoming. In Botswana, he expects that, from 2008 onwards, Debswana
alone will need R300-mil- lion worth of equipment for diamond
projects.
In South Africa itself, opportunities to sell Caterpillar equipment
will involve some R2,9-billion worth diamond ore crushing machineof equipment, R1,2-million of
which will stem from mining projects in the Limpopo province
alone.
These include R400-million worth of expected equipment for Venetia
diamond mine; an equivalent value of equipment for Exxaro’s
coal projects in the Waterberg; another R300-million from 2007
onwards at PPRust North platinum project; and R150-million worth
from Kumba Iron Ore’s proposed Phoenix project.
In Mpumalanga, he singles out demand from four coal projects,
expecting R345-million worth of equipment demand from the Goed-
gevonden project, another R275-mil- lion from the Elders project,
R200-million from Klipspruit and R150-million from Mafube.
In the Northern Cape, he expects equipment demand of R525-million
to emanate from the Sishen South and Khumani projects and also
R180-million worth of equipment demand from the Voerspoed diamond
project in the Free State.
He makes the point that the R3,6-billion is merely the estimated
cost of the mining equipment that will be needed for opencast
activities, involving mainly the extrac- tion of copper, coal,
diamonds, iron- ore and platinum, with Barloworld also well placed
to provide equipment for underground mining.
“Close to $870-million worth of equipment will come in next
year for delivery by us,” he reveals.