In the three short years since Weir Minerals Africa acquired the Trio® range of crushing and screening equipment, a strong network of skills and aftermarket services has been built across Africa to support this quality brand.

According to Weir Minerals Africa Process Director JD Singleton, the support services are now in place in the organisation’s 18 service centres across the continent, as well as a Trio specific stockholding worth almost R100 million.

“This investment in the region is testament to Weir Mineral’s commitment to the Trio brand, and to our customers in operations large and small,” says Singleton. “Perhaps the most exciting aspect of our Trio journey to date is the strong local skills base we have developed, with the expertise in our comminution team amounting to 100 years of experience in the sector combined.”

The team has been recently boosted by the appointment of chemical engineer and process expert Vernon Steenkop as General Manager Comminution – a role previously performed by Singleton. Steenkop brings a wealth of experience in the mining sector, with 27 years of hands-on process experience across a range of commodities. Most recently, he has been managing the company’s flagship Middelburg branch.

“Our focus is to provide the customer with a total solution,” says Steenkop, “which we can do by combining our flexibility with our full suite of minerals process equipment. This means that our success can be measured by what the customer’s business achieves through better efficiencies, less downtime and higher output.”

The network includes specialised teams to deal with sales, applications, aftermarket and spares to ensure a seamless integration of expert input across the life cycle of projects and quick availability of spare parts and servicing.

“This has transformed the Trio offering into a truly local enterprise,” says Singleton. “Machines are brought in from our global manufacturing facilities, but we design our flow-sheets and solutions locally, and construct the steelwork and ancillary structures locally too.”

Weir Minerals Africa invests heavily in local skills development, training its own engineers so that customers can be assured of the best support and advice available. High-potential school leavers are selected for a bursary programme, and put through a graduate programme or learnership within the company. Further contributions to the sector include Weir Mineral’s active membership and support of industry bodies such as the Institute of Quarrying of Southern Africa.

The Trio® crusher range – which offers capacities of between 50 tph and 1500 tph – includes jaw crushers, cone crushers, grizzly and belt feeders, vertical shaft impact crushers, horizontal shaft impact crushers, conveyor sections and hoppers.