Crane manufacturer Condra Cranes has secured an order from Tronox Mineral Sands for three cranes for the Namakwa Sands East orange feldspathic sand (OFS) project, in Brand-se-Baai, 385 km north of Cape Town.

The order comprises a 35/12.5 t Condra crane for mill maintenance at the project, as well as two Condra hoists with capacities of 5 t and 7.5 t for the mill discharge and run-of-mine stockpile.

East OFS is being developed to allow the extraction of orange feldspathic sand, a mineralised grit, from levels deeper than have been mined at Namakwa Sands before, with extraction set to start this year.

The mill maintenance crane, with a 23.3 m span and a lifting height of 30 m, is a double-girder electric overhead travelling machine equipped with a 35 t main hoist and 12.5 t auxiliary on a single crab.

According to Condra Cranes, the crane features a storm brake to prevent unintended crane movement caused by excessive wind loading, a full-length walkway, radio control with pendant back-up, and audiovisual safety warnings of crane movement.

The hoists for Tronox are Class 2m machines from Condra Crane’s modular K-Series range, assembled to application requirements.

“As with the overhead crane for the mill area, they feature remote radio control with plug-in pendant back-up, and audiovisual warning lights activated while working. Weather covers protect hoists and motors,” Condra Cranes said in a statement issued to Engineering News & Mining Weekly.

The 7.5 t stockpile hoist has a lifting height of 9.5 m, while the 5 t mill discharge machine has a lift of 8.5 m. The latter hoist also features articulated crawls to allow negotiation of a monorail with curves of 1.9 m radius and modified cross-head assemblies will facilitate hoist movement around bends.

The overhead crane and both hoists are fitted with load cells and digital read-outs and finished with a special paint finish to protect against corrosion. Electrical panels are from stainless steel to IP65 standard.

Delivery of these machines, which were designed by Condra Cranes’ Germiston headquarters’ drawing office, with manufacture taking place in the factory, took place late last year after professional engineering certification.

Cape Town-based Blue Cranes, which already services much of the lifting equipment at Namakwa Sands, is set to carry out installation and commissioning, as well as maintain the crane and hoists.

Condra MD Marc Kleiner says that the company’s reputation for quality, durability and service helped secure the Tronox contract.

“Customer surveys have shown these characteristics to be the ‘big three’. They are uppermost in the customer’s mind at the time of purchase.

“We have been working on them for many years now. I think it is fair to say our ability to tailor lifting equipment to the specifics of a particular application is the key to many of our successful tenders.”