South African project engineering company ProMet Engineers Africa (ProMet Africa) has merged with a large Chinese enterprise, Dadi Engineering Development, it was formally announced in Johannesburg last week. The new company is ProMet Dadi Africa.
Dadi is a major player in the Chinese coal sector, and since it was established in late 2008, it has designed and supplied more than 70 coal processing plants, of which 30 were turn-key projects, as well as three water slurry treatment plants. Of the 30 turnkey proces-sing plants, Dadi operates and maintains ten, on behalf of its clients. The company has also completed more than 30 openpit and underground mining projects. It is ISO 9001 certified. The group also includes an electrical engineering com-pany and a manufacturiiron ore crushing plant in indiang company.
“The Dadi group is actually a very famous group in China. “We do lots of big projects in China, especially in the past four years. “We hope, and we are confident, that this [merger] gives Dadi a good opportunity to do good business in Africa,” said company GM Wang Dongping. “Our two parts, joined together, can do a good job with any size project.”
ProMet Africa has been active in South Africa, Botswana and West Africa. One accounting for a quarrying companyof its shareholders is ProMet Engineers of Australia. “We were quite a successful company in our own right,” stated company MD Rob Bennett. “We have a good reputation and a bankable name.” But the global economic crisis caused the local com-pany to consider its position in the market. Skilled Staff “We recognised our market was becoming exceptionally competitive”, with regard to winning business and owing to the rising cost of inputs, including skillmaize posho mill for saleed staff.
“We decided we needed to find a partner, with a balance sheet that would allow us to undertake large [scale] work,” he explained. “That partner proved to be Dadi, and Bennett is now MD of ProMet Dadi Africa. Whereas ProMet Africa and ProMet Engineers could call on some 80 employees, Dadi has more than 2 000 engineers and project managers, and ProMet Dadi Africa can also call on their services.
“We are not just a represent-ative; we are not just an agency. “We give yocement bricks price gautengu access to global markets. [You may be global already] but we’re a good enabler,” he stressed. “Operational support – that’s the model they applied in China and that’s the model we’re applying here. “This is a sustainable model that we are building. We’re focused on all commodities. We have a good pedigree in iron-ore, coal and precious metals. “We’re willing to take on lump-sum turnkey offerings up to $300-million. “That’s very significant.”
“I would like to congrat-ulate ProMet Daroll crusher manufacturerdi Africa on this auspicious occasion,” affirmed Chinese Embassy Economic and Commercial Counsellor Jiang Wei. Success Symbol “It is a symbol of successful [South Africa-China] business cooperation.” He pointed out that bilateral trade reached $25.6-billion last year and should reach $30-billion this year.
The deal creating ProMet Dadi represents, of course, further Chinese investment in this country. “Chinese investment in South Africa is now $7-bil-lion,” he reported. “We expect that, in the foreseeable future, our invest-ment . . . will become more diversified.” He pointed out that China and South Africa last year established a comprehensive strategic partnership and that China could provide capital and technology for South Africa. “Our economies are highly complementary. In the long run, our cooperation will develop as a paradigm for relations between China and other African countries.”