Multotec South America’s well entrenched operations continue to grow, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on all industries worldwide.

Amid the mass closures and restrictions that defined 2020, mining remained an essential operation on the continent.

During this period, Multotec increased its staff complement, from a sales and operations perspective, and pursued additional capacity across Chile and Brazil as the company secured more market share, says Multotec South America GM Graeme Campbell.

Multotec supports South America’s mining industries with a range of mineral processing equipment, including screening media, trommels, cyclones, samplers and spirals, which are a good fit for the region’s commodities.

The company, which remains profitable and poised for significant growth, despite the intense competition in South America, weathered the Covid-19 storm with the support of clients and is gearing up for expansion with a focus on service, manufacturing and fabrication.

This comes as the company transitions from its hybrid model of importing many of its products to ensuring that a significant share of products is manufactured in the South American region.

“We are very much focused on local manufacture and fabrication. We believe it is essential, in terms of our market penetration strategy, to actually do everything locally.

“We added more production equipment to our workshop to meet the increasing demand that we have been experiencing,” says Campbell, noting that adopting local capabilities ensures in-house quality, speed-to-market and cost savings, as well as control over services and supply.

The company is also continuing to expand its reach in Brazil, one of the mining powerhouses of the world, particularly in iron-ore, where the company is replicating the model of its established Chile-based branch, and manufacturing capabilities and associated support structures.

The group started the local fabrication of key products in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, with the same philosophy of ensuring speed-to-market, customer satisfaction and quality.

“We are attempting to do as much as we can with local fabrication,” Campbell comments.

This will ensure competitiveness, avoid exorbitant importing and establish an embedded local presence that can tap into the growing market.

“We have had good success with it. We have actually supplied some capital equipment that was locally manufactured to one of the largest mining houses in Brazil. The project went smoothly,” he says.

The group has been active in South America for the past 25 years, initially working from Santiago, in Chile, and later adding distributors in Peru, Argentina and Brazil.

Meanwhile, Campbell says the company aims to expand further into other South American countries.

“From a mining perspective, the market is incredible,” he says, noting that the combined market of Peru, Brazil and Chile is larger than that of Australia, and that growth potential is one of the reasons why Multotec is focused on South America.

“We will definitely look at expanding and increasing our footprint,” Campbell concludes.