Mechanical and industrial engineering company Duys Engineering Group has successfully completed two major projects on schedule for international mining company Kenmare Resources, which is listed on the Dublin and London stock exchanges and operates the Moma titanium mine in Mozambique, the Mining Weekly news portal reported on Thursday 14 November.
According to the website, the engineering company manufactured 23 40-tonne pontoons at its Richards Bay facility and a 75-tonne work barge with several cranes at its facilities in Germany.
The projects, which earned South Africa valuable foreign exchange and employed 180 people in the process, were officially handed over on 21 October, after having started in April and May. ‘We have provided employment for 180 people, most of whom were previously unemployed. We paid 86.4 million meticals (25 million rand) in gross wages and contributed 11 million meticals (3.2 million rand) in taxes to the economy through the pay-as-you-go system,’ said Henk Duys, chairman of Duys Engineering.
The source said that the 75-tonne work barge, named the Regina Machua Work Barge after Kenmare’s deputy country manager, was manufactured at Duys Engineering’s specialised engineering facilities in Germany. ‘Forty men and women, many of whom had been unemployed for some time, worked on the project and acquired new skills and experience,’ he said.
After delivery, the barge was dismantled over five days into six subsections for three days of cargo transport to the port of Richards Bay. The barge was then shipped by sea at the end of October to Mozambique, where it will be reassembled on site.
Built in accordance with international maritime standards, the barge is hydraulically propelled with a fully tilting propulsion system and side thrust for manoeuvrability in confined spaces and will be used for maintenance and general service of mining facilities.
It will have two cranes, the largest of which has a reach of 11 metres, and can accommodate a load of 11 tonnes. ‘The barge is certainly the most beautiful thing we’ve ever built. It’s been a while since anything of this magnitude has been built in Durban,‘ said Ian Sinclair, managing director of Duys’ Engineering division.
