Engineering solutions provider Babcock’s transparency, combined with its range of leading construction equipment and its successful collaborations with customers, struck a chord with Lomeza Mining Services, who required reliable construction equipment to fulfil its obligations for a long-term contract to load and haul overburden in Delmas.

Lomeza Mining Services MD Simon Mkhonza says he initially approached Babcock three years ago seeking reliable construction equipment for diversified miner Exxaro’s Leeuwpan coal mine. Today, Lomeza’s fleet includes 18 Babcock-supplied Volvo construction equipment machines that have helped the growing business meet and increase its production capacity.

Most recently, Lomeza has taken delivery of three Volvo A60H articulated dump trucks (ADTs) and one EC950E excavator, adding to its fleet which includes six A35G ADTs, three A45G ADTs, and three EC750D crawler excavators.

Mkhonza says that, as a young organisation, Lomeza did not have extensive access to machinery that larger contract mining companies have, and recalls his first meetings with Babcock as the owner of a small business “with a large equipment supply problem”.

After initial negotiations, Mkhonza took delivery of two excavators and six ADTs in November 2017. “My business was still in the startup stages and I wasn’t yet known to the leading equipment suppliers. However, Babcock chose to support me and this was the beginning of a solid and long-lasting relationship,” says Mkhonza.

He adds that the mine soon recognised the quality and performance of the equipment, increasing Lomeza’s production targets, which, in turn, required more machinery. “I went back to Babcock and, again, they offered me fantastic support.”

He adds that the current fleet has the capacity to consistently meet Lomeza’s production targets of two-million tonnes of overburden a month.

Mkhonza highlights the distinction between simply supplying equipment and maintaining it in good working order, saying that Babcock has provided unwavering support in terms of the latter.

Babcock’s Volvo and SDLG equipment sales representative Rob Baker echoes Mkhonza’s sentiment and says that, over the course of three years, a relationship based on mutual respect and trust has developed between the two businesses.

“Simon is a fantastic customer and our relationship with him has grown from strength to strength,” Baker states.

Mkhonza adds that a letter of gratitude from the mine thanking Lomeza for meeting its targets bears testament to the successful collaboration.

Lomeza Mining Services was established in 2015 and currently operates within South Africa’s coal mining industry.