The upgraded factory of chromium carbide wear liner manufacturer Rio Carb meets the highest international standards, priming the company for international competition in providing wear liners for mining in Africa and South Africa, says Rio Carb MD Martin Maine.

The new factory meets US and Canada industry best practice standards for productivity, cleanliness, pollution control, repeatability and waste reduction. The factory will also improve the company’s capability to manufacture chromium carbide wear-resistant liner parts within 24 hours of receiving an emergency order, he says.

“All the manufactured parts are numbered, with these numbers being retained in a database. This means that any client can send us any part number and we can manufacture the exact same part for shipping to the client within 24 hours. This is an example of the quality and repeatability that we have achieved and it is part of our strategy to ensure competitiveness and agility for the mining industry.”

Rio Carb also uses 1 700 A stud-welding machines to weld bolts directly to wear liners that are fitted to chutes and hoppers, which means there are no parts of the bolt on the inside of the chute to obstruct or be damaged by the abrasive materials. The welded studs meet American Welding Society (AWS) standards for torque and bending tests.

A 17 000 ºC plasma cutting machine can cut clad-plate steel parts to within 0.5 mm tolerances and the machine also permanently etches the part’s number onto it for easy reference by the client on site. The positioning marks for the studs are also etched onto the parts for accurate and rapid manufacturing.

“The company complies with all US AWS standards and its feedstock products have been certified as compliant with International Standards Organisation (ISO) standards.”

Rio Carb’s orders last month included shipping wear liner products and parts to Ghana and Sierra Leone, and providing lined parts, chutes and hoppers for gold mines and coal mines in South Africa, he adds.

The modernisation of the factory also reduced its electricity use for lighting by installing light-emitting diodes in 80 high-bay lights across the 3 000 m2 factory.

The factory has four boiler-making stations, six metal inert-gas welding stations, three high definition plasma-cutting machines, a 150 t press, a pyramid sheet-rolling machine and three grinding stations, as well as a 5 t crane to move refurbished mining parts and equipment being assembled.

“We retain materials in stock to the value of R8-million to respond to any job order immediately. We do not outsource any of the work, therefore eliminating risks of being delayed by contract work and enabling us to ensure consistency,” says Maine.

The use of chromium carbide as a wear- resistant cladding is increasing, owing to new designs and capabilities, including the ability to line slurry pipes with the durable material, concludes Maine.