Multotec Services Mozambique Lda, recently celebrated 10 years of operating in the Southern African country, where it established a branch to service clients in the coal fields in the Tete Province. In addition, the company also services clients involved in graphite, mineral sands and precious stone mining in other parts of the country.

Multotec Services Mozambique is a subsidiary of The Multotec Group, which is headquartered in South Africa and has, for the past 50 years, helped the world’s biggest mining houses process minerals more efficiently, effectively, and reliably. Multotec’s mineral processing equipment is used to optimise recoveries and reduce cost of ownership in mineral processing plants in 100 countries on six continents. In addition to its activities in Mozambique, the company provides plant maintenance to a platinum mining client in Zimbabwe, as required, via a contract from the Multotec Group in South Africa.

Coal project opportunities

“The Mozambique branch was initially established to harness the opportunities presented by the coal projects which were getting off the ground from 2010. Establishing a local presence allowed us to be closer to our clients to offer timely and better service,” says Multotec Services Mozambique Branch Manager, Kumbirai Mapingire.

Ground-breaking for the site was done in November 2011, and civil works commenced immediately, followed by the erection of the workshop as well as the construction of the houses and the perimeter walls. This was completed by the end of July 2012. The branch then officially commenced operations at the beginning of October 2012 after all the relevant permits were issued. From its humble beginnings with only two employees, the branch now employs 55 local people.

Mapingire says that Multotec Services Mozambique provides turnkey mineral processing solutions to customers across the country, from supplying, maintaining and condition monitoring its full range of processing equipment, to the fabrication of various steel components, such as chutes, pipes, and ceramic-lined cyclone parts.

Expanding the facilities

“Recently, we built the new ceramic workshop, meaning that the facilities now cover an area of 1.5Ha, which includes a workshop, ceramic tiling shop, sandblasting unit and painting shop.” 

“Besides being of great benefit to the employees as they now have a better facility to work from, the new facilities have increased the capacity for handling the tiling projects and all the processes are now being done in-house. This means the turnaround time for refurbishment has been improved to the benefit of all their clients”, Mapingire elaborates.

The company has a variety of heavy-duty equipment that it uses for fabrication of mineral processing solutions, including a hydraulic press brake, a cone plate roller, a steel plate roller, a hydraulic swing beam, six hydraulic HDPE welding machines, a fixed sandblasting unit and a mobile sandblasting unit.

Mapingire explains that an additional, albeit smaller line of Multotec Services Mozambique’s business is pipe fabrication, with the company occasionally embarking on projects for the fabrication and installation of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) piping systems. 

“We were the supplier of choice at a project at a mine in Chirodzi, where we did all the piping for the plant when the mine was first established. Since then, we have done several other pipe installations at this operation, including waterlines and slurry lines. We have also carried out HDPE piping projects for several other clients,” he says.

Mapingire comments that he is proud of Multotec Services Mozambique’s safety record, as the company operates strictly in adherence to mining health and safety regulations. “As a result, we have not recorded any injuries since we started operating in Mozambique.”

Competitive edge

Mapingire explains that Multotec Services Mozambique’s operations are backed by technical support from the head office in South Africa. However, the company’s local presence gives it a competitive edge in terms of servicing clients in Mozambique, as it is able to bring Multotec’s large-scale expertise and experience, as well as world-class equipment and products to the local market.

“The recognition that we receive from our clients comes in the form of repeat business. We benchmark ourselves against the fact that our clients keep coming back to do business with us, wanting the service that we have been giving them all these years,” he explains.

Mapingire notes that the company invests in the wider socio-economic environment to enhance, uplift, and strengthen the communities that its employees, clients and suppliers come from. 

To this end, Mapingire says Multotec Services Mozambique is currently working closely with local government in Tete Province to identify areas where it can launch projects that will ultimately assist communities in the long run. We are currently engaging with the local government to identify projects pertaining to issues such as the eradication of malaria, the supply of clean water or the provision of school materials to the communities in which we operate,” he concludes.