Quarry owners have given an enthusiastic reception to two new Sandvik static crushing solutions – the Reborn plant and the FastPlant™ – which both offer fast delivery times and substantial cost savings. The plants clearly fill a market need and several installations are already up and running in South Africa’s quarrying industry.

The Reborn package delivers a new factory-tested crusher that is fully compatible with the customer’s existing plant infrastructure at a fraction of the cost of a complete crusher system while the FastPlants are a range of pre-defined crushing and screening plants that reduce delivery and installation times dramatically, a key requirement with most new projects.

“South Africa has a very mature quarrying industry with a big population of relatively old crushers out in the field and yet they are often matched with infrastructure and auxiliaries – for example, hydraulic and lubrication systems, drives and motors, conveyors and electrical components – that are still perfectly serviceable,” says Glenn Schoeman, Vice President – Sub Sahara Africa at Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions.

“This is where the Reborn plant comes into its own. Sandvik can install a new crusher on the same footprint and link it seamlessly to the existing infrastructure and auxiliaries. The new unit will be covered by an extended warranty and the package will also include comprehensive on-site training and periodic condition inspections. All told, capex savings can be as much as 40 %.”

Schoeman says that Reborn crushers can – depending on the exact model and the customer’s requirements – be equipped with all the latest technological advances from Sandvik. These include advanced automation features such as the company’s Automation and Connectivity System (ACS) which continually monitors, analyses and optimises the crusher’s performance or its game-changing E-dump valve control system, which counters the problems caused by tramp iron and other uncrushable objects encountered during the crushing process.

He also points out that even when an existing crusher is working reasonably well, a Reborn replacement will often make sense given the enormous productivity benefits and energy savings associated with new Sandvik machines.

“Take our new 800i series range of cone crushers,” he says. “The performance improvements which come with these machines are amazing. These come not only from the ACS which is installed as standard but from other features. Bolted rather than welded top and bottom shell liners make liner changing 90 % faster, to give one example, while all the machines in the range deliver more power output from less energy compared to their predecessors.”

Turning to the FastPlant concept, Schoeman says the prime advantages of these packages are fast delivery and installation, allowing the plant owner to get into production faster, as well as economy, as the need for expensive customisation is eliminated. “Delivery will generally take about 12 weeks as opposed to two or three times this with a custom-designed plant,” he says. “The equipment is generally skid-based and comprises standard modular components but there is no compromise on quality and performance.”

Sandvik has just completed a FastPlant installation at the City of Tshwane’s Bon Accord quarry in Pretoria North, which was originally established more than a century ago to supply road building materials for Pretoria. The new upgraded facility was officially opened in early May this year and has a capacity of 270 t/h, a significant increase on the previous plant.

“A full suite of Sandvik equipment including jaw and cone crushers, screens and feeders make up the plant,” says Schoeman, who adds that the facility is fully automated. He also notes that Sandvik collaborated with several long-standing partners, mostly black empowered, on the project, who provided services such as civils, steel fabrication and erection, and electrical installation.

Further north in Africa Sandvik is also supplying a 300 t/h FastPlant to a quarry owner in Mali. “We are certainly not limited to the South African market with our Reborn and FastPlants and we expect them to prove very popular throughout the continent,” says Schoeman.

Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions (SRP) is a new Business Area within Sandvik which became operational in January 2021. Schoeman and his team are based at Khomanani, Sandvik’s new premises in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, and have responsibility for sub-Saharan Africa.

SRP offers a full line-up of both static and mobile crushing equipment, including cone, gyratory and jaw crushers, as well as Vertical Shaft Impact (VSI) and Horizontal Shaft Impact (HSI) crushers. Also offered is a comprehensive range of screens, which now – following Sandvik’s acquisition of Kwatani – includes large multi-slope screens for the mining industry.