Screening and vibrating equipment solutions and services provider Aury Africa has opened a new office near eMalahleni to significantly extend its presence in the Mpumalanga coalfields region.

Aury Africa has subsequently entered into supply contracts with significant players in the area.

Located at the Smokey Mountain Office Village in Route N4 Business Park, the office is fully staffed and includes a showroom for its extensive product range. “This includes high-quality vibrating screens for the coal, gold and minerals processing sectors, comprising banana, horizontal, circular, high-frequency and flip-flop vibrating screens,” notes Aury Africa business development manager George Sturgeon.

Aury Africa production and support manager John Wills further highlights that eMalahleni is in the epicentre of the Mpumalanga coalfields, which allows for easy access to the company’s main coal-mining client base. He says the company is committed to employing local workers, as well as supporting the industry in eMalahleni and Middelburg.

Sturgeon says Aury is ideally positioned to extend the local footprint of the global group, which also has a presence in Australia and China.

“Mpumalanga currently accounts for about 50% of the demand for our screening products, and provides a gateway for expansion into the lucrative Steelpoort area,” he adds.

“Our mission is to provide our clients with reliable and cost-effective solutions for their production challenges, supported by professional after-sales service teams. Central to this philosophy has been launching the new regional office,” says Aury Africa director Sydney Parkhouse.

“It is important for us to have the Aury brand accepted by the mining industry in Africa, owing to our superior products that are competitive from a quality and price point of view.” He says part of the company’s ongoing strategy is to engage the African market regarding the latest international developments.

Market Growth and Offering

Wills says Aury’s screening products conform to International Organisation for Standardisation standards, and are developed from an extremely sound engineering base, with a wide international footprint.

“The company interacts very closely with its client base and uses the expectations, technical feedback and experience of clients as valuable input into the development and continual improvement of its high-quality products.”

He says Aury’s holding group operates more than 30 mega coal-processing plants and field operations globally, which provide invaluable technical feedback from an ongoing learning process in terms of innovation and competitiveness.

The company has entered into an association with Tony Weatherby, a former metallurgical manager with 37 years’ experience in the industry, to bolster its presence.

“We are also working with potential distributors to entrench the company’s reputation as a leading manufacturer and supplier of high-performance minerals-processing equipment to the African mining industry,” Parkhouse says.

Wills mentions that one of the most exciting growth opportunities for the company is the introduction of its dry-sorting dual X-ray system, which has generated great interest in South Africa, as well as in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique. “This hi-tech product can be used primarily in coal mines, but has also been adapted for use in manganese and cobalt applications.”

Wills says the company is increasing its market share of superior-quality centrifuges, as well as consumables in the form of high-efficiency cetrifuge baskets with 50% more drainage area and long-life wear cones.

Aury also supplies a range of exciters to fit most original-equipment manufacturing screen types; and consumable products, such as centrifuge baskets, polyurethane wedge wire panels, intertank cylinder screens for classification, sieve bends and static panels for separation.