Mechanical and industrial engineering firm Duys Engineering Group has successfully completed two large projects on time for Dublin- and London-listed international mining concern Kenmare Resources, which operates the Moma titanium mineral mine in Mozambique.

The engineering company manufactured 23 large, 40 t pontoons at its Richards Bay facility and a 75 t multiple-crane-carrying work barge at its New Germany facility.

The projects, which earned valuable foreign exchange for South Africa and employed 180 people in the process, were officially handed over on October 21, having started in April and May.

“We have added 180 employees, most of whom were previously unemployed. We have paid R25-million in gross wages and contributed R3.2-million tax into the economy through pay-as-you-earn. [Further,] 156 000 hours were worked on the project and R6.75-million was spent on welding consumables alone . . . and we trebled our electricity bill,” Duys Engineering chairperson Henk Duys says.

The 75 t work barge, which was named the Working Barge Regina Machua, after Kenmare’s deputy country manager, was manufactured in Duys Engineering’s specialist engineering works in New Germany.

Forty men and women, many of whom had been unemployed for some time, worked on the project and acquired new skills and experience through the project.

Following the handover, the barge was dismantled, over five days, into six large subsections for abnormal-load transport, over three days, to Richards Bay harbour. Following this, the barge was sent by sea at the end of October to Mozambique, where it will be reassembled on site.

Built to international marine standards, the barge is propelled hydraulically with a fully tiling and side thrust propulsion system for manoeuvrability in confined spaces and will be used for general mining plant maintenance and service.

It will carry two cranes – the larger of which has an 11 m reach and can pick up an 11 t load.

“[The barge] is certainly the prettiest thing we have ever built. It has been some time since anything of this magnitude has been built in Durban,” says Duys Engineering division CEO Ian Sinclair.

“Projects of this magnitude only work because of the human beings involved. This is the spirit in which we undertook this project – it is an incredible piece of work,” says Kenmare capital projects engineering manager, based in Johannesburg, Adrian Arnold.

Duys Engineering also completed the manufacture of 23 large pontoons at its Richards Bay factory, with 16 having left the plant and onto site earlier in October, followed by the last seven, which were shipped at the end of October with the barge.

The pontoons will float on an inshore man-made lake to form the basis of the mine’s process plant.

The nine-month project processed 1 000 t of steel and provided employment for 140 artisans, many of whom also acquired new skills as a result of the contract.

Both the New Germany plant and Richards Bay plants were modified to accommodate the projects.

“Over the last six months, Duys Engineering has reopened our engineering operations in New Germany and upgraded our Richards Bay factory,” Duys points out.

The upgrade of the Richards Bay heavy engineering facility started at the beginning of the year and took about three months.

The upgrade included the installation of two additional cranes in Richards Bay, which now has six cranes with a maximum 95 t lift capacity in a tandem lift, while investments were made in building upgrades, welding, materials preparation and blast and paint equipment at a total cost of R10-million.

“The Richards Bay facility was built primarily to service the aluminium industry in Richards Bay repairing pots and superstructures. With its upgrade, it can now service the general engineering requirements locally and for export customers. It has nearly 4 000 m2 under craneage. Cranage ranges for 50 to 20 t cranes,” explains Duys in response to questions posed by Engineering News & Mining Weekly.

The group also re-established its engineering operations in New Germany, where two additional cranes were also installed.

“Our head office was always based in New Germany – here we do the upfront design, expediting and project management. For the last five years, all actual engineering and fabrication activities took place in Richards Bay.”

The New Germany footprint was largely abandoned over the last five years and needed extensive rebuilding, as well as upgraded employee facilities.

The available New Germany space, which is smaller than Richards Bays, is earmarked to take on the higher technology, more complex engineering projects in the form of machinery or process plant.

“It started in March and was ongoing until June. We had to refurbish one of the fabrication areas that had been damaged. We upgraded the cranage, as well as lights, welding points, roofing, gutters and change room facilities. Going forward, the idea is to do the more specialised engineering here in Pinetown/New Germany,” Duys explains.

The group is also heavily invested in the automotive component manufacturing industry, supplying component parts to the major motor vehicle assembly plants with factories in New Germany, Pretoria and Gqeberha.

Duys Engineering Group was founded in 1960 by Pieter M Duys, who was a Dutch immigrant.

The official handover of the projects, and the barge naming ceremony, took place at Duys’ premises in New Germany on October 21. The ceremony also honoured the late CEO Pieter Duys.