Multotec expands footprint in South American mining market

Within a rapidly growing South American mining arena that anticipates mining capital expenditure to increase substantially over the next three years, international specialist equipment supplier Multotec is steadily expanding its footprint.

The Multotec Group is poised to deliver its biggest ever cyclone order for a project in the region and recently supplied screen panels for all screen decks to a gold mine operating at an elevation of 4 500 metres above sea level, located in the mountains on the border between Argentina and Chile.

Another recent order saw the supply of four of the largest mill discharge trommel screens ever made to a copper mine in Peru, where the equipment has been specified to operate at below zero temperatures, also at 4 500 metres above sea level. The Multotec team provides aftersales support and technical backup to this installation out of its branch in Santiago, Chile.

The extractive metallurgy group has been active in South America for the past 25 years, initially working from Santiago and later adding distributors in Peru (Arenas SRL), Argentina (Proglobal) and Brazil.

“We’re building on our longstanding relationships with most of the major industry players, through equipment supply to capital projects, as well as the supply of consumables and the provision of technical backup,” Multotec’s Derrick Alston says. “We’re well entrenched in the region, profitable and poised for significant growth. The competition is tough in South America, but we’re differentiated by our high levels of service and the quality of our products, many of which are the state-of-the-art worldwide.

“We focus on locally manufacturing the equipment most needed by the market, where we can add real value to customer operations. Most of the technological developments taking place within Multotec internationally are being fed into the region, particularly in regard to screening technology.”

Among the latest innovations is Multotec’s new TeePee™ polyurethane (PU) screen panel, which is poised to usher in significant improvements and cost savings for the South American mining market. This injection moulded PU panel is unique worldwide, effectively significantly increasing the open area for the same footprint. The fully field tested Multotec TeePee™ panel makes it possible to achieve a 50% increase in open area, with slotted apertures of 0.5 mm, 0.63 mm and 0.8 mm — representing a 100% improvement on current polyurethane panel technology.

Multotec’s Saddle Tops are also top performers in the mining industry. These patented PU screen runner protectors are fixed to the runners using nylon pins, which ensure accuracy of critical tolerances and improve the wear life of the support runners dramatically — as high as three to four times. The Multotec Saddle Top can be used to accommodate most modular PU screen panel systems and can be retrofitted to existing screen frames with ease.

“We’re presently increasing our manufacturing capability in the region, including casting of PU that extends to the supply of wetted ends made out of steel-reinforced PU for all types of flotation equipment,” Alston adds. “Multotec also supplies a large number of custom-designed trommels into South America, developed by harnessing Finite Element Analysis technology for the steelwork. This technology has positioned us as the supplier of choice to the OEMs of mills supplied into local projects.”