From smart mining to mobile crushing from Weir

At this year’s Electra Mining Africa exhibition, visitors will be attracted to the Weir stand by innovations such as the Weir modular wheeled plant (WMWP), a fully mobile crushing and screening plant, as well as the latest in the company’s digital solutions for smart mining.

Supporting customers to mine for a more sustainable future, Weir will showcase not only its leading range of equipment and solutions, but also the digital technology to further optimise its performance and reliability.

“Our exciting Motion Metrics mine operation monitoring systems will be one of the main features at the show,” says Weir process and products director Mufaro Muzvondiwa. “These systems provide mines with real-time particle size analysis of material carried on shovels, loaders, conveyor belts and haul trucks – helping to avoid blockages at the crushing stage and optimising the mine-to-mill value chain.”

Using stereoscopic vision combined with artificial intelligence (AI), Motion Metrics cameras leverage machine learning to enhance its predictive capabilities and provide actionable insights to customers, says Muzvondiwa.

Another highlight will be Weir’s intelligent solution, which features condition monitoring technology. This is portrayed through 3D conceptualisation, showing all associated benefits including safety, savings and maintenance optimisation.

“Visitors to our stand can witness the value of real-time monitoring in enhancing plant performance and optimising uptime,” he explains. “This is where Weir is supporting our customers’ ambitions to be more cost effective by driving down their total cost of ownership of equipment while driving productivity and sustainability.”

In addition to the display of its latest pumps, screens, cyclones, valves, liners and ground-engaging tools, Weir will also have its recently launched mobile crushing and screening plant at its outdoor stand. With Weir’s WMWP fully mobile plant mounted on an on-road trailer, the plant can be moved to site and set up within a couple of hours as a ‘plug-and-play’ solution.

“This innovation has already generated great excitement in the aggregates and small scale mining sector,” he says. “The design provides a fully mobile plant, making it ideal for road projects requiring aggregate crushing at various points along the route.”

Muzvondiwa highlights that Electra Mining Africa provides a useful forum to remind visitors of Weir’s concerted focus on partnerships for sustainable mining. This includes the extensive footprint of original-equipment manufacturer service centres and partners across Africa, ensuring technical support is always available in close proximity to mines.

“In addition to our South African presence, we are present in countries including Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Botswana, Namibia, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia,” he says. “Our three manufacturing centres in South Africa also ensure high levels of local manufacture, to promote African economies and to streamline the supply chain to our customers.”

The combination of quality products and dedicated service means that Weir can be confident in the warranties and predictions it provides to customers regarding the productivity of its solutions. “This is demonstrated by our ability to enter into cost-per-ton agreements with customers,” he says.

He adds that local skills development is also a priority for the company in building its service infrastructure, including its Mill Circuit University.

Blue Zone Stand C20