According to Kim Schoepflin, CEO of Kwatani, this large-scale equipment is custom-designed and engineered for tonnage to meet the mine's challenging operational requirements.

"Manganese ore is very demanding on vibrating screens as it has a high specific gravity and is also very abrasive," she said. "Our machines are engineered to perform the application's duty requirement while being robust enough to deliver maximum uptime."

The units being supplied include a 3.6m double-deck scalping screen, a 3m double-deck screen, a 2.4m screen and a 1.8m dewatering screen.

"Customers choose us for our engineering track record - developing technology that can manage the tonnages they require," added Schoepflin. "This means understanding each mine's specific conditions, and then building a design to meet a range of complex mechanical and metallurgical factors."

The order to the mine is being rolled out on time and on specification to the customer's satisfaction, says Kwatani COO Kenny Mayhew-Ridgers. He highlighted that on-time delivery of a fit-for-purpose product is as vital as its reliable operation.

"The efficiency and quality of our work process allows us to design, manufacture and deliver custom-designed screens in the same timeframes that other OEMs deliver standard models," he added.

This is particularly demanding as custom-designed equipment undergoes an intensive design process after being verified by rigorous finite element analysis in-house. Prior to dispatch, all units endure intensive testing before being commissioned on a customer's site.

For this reason, Kwatani has its own in-house advanced testing facilities at its facility in Kempton Park in South Africa's Gauteng province. Aligned to ISO 9001 standards, the testing protocols have been developed in-house with decades of experience. This allows full testing similar to cold commissioning, even before delivery to site.