HMA Wear Solutions South Africa - Mining, Power & Processing

Year of Formation and Background to Founding:
A great story of development and growth started from humble beginnings with two people, Keith Halley and Mike Mellowes starting the engineering company, Halley & Mellowes P/L (HMA Group) in Australia in 1966 and commencing operations in South Africa in 2017.

With the increase in demand for minerals and energy through the 1980s to now, the growth of the company has been based on manufacturing and the supply of specialised equipment to the mining, power generation and processing industries. The HMA Group is made up of six divisions consisting of materials handling, instrumentation, wear solutions, flow & industrial, power generation and geotechnical.

The HMA Group expanded into South Africa in 2017 with the buyout of a local South African company – Uretech P/L. The fit of Uretech into the HMA Group was perfect for the HMA Wear Solutions (WS) division. HMA WS is globally recognised as one of the leaders in innovation and development of wear resistant lining materials and systems, predominately ceramic lined pipe, chutes and cyclones. The Uretech integration provided HMA WS with local South African expertise, access to over 30 site installation personnel and another quality wear lining material, polyurethane, to add to the portfolio of materials and equipment which currently consists of  basalt, alumina, silicon carbide, ZTA, PSZ, impact panels and cyclones.

HMA WS now has a fully functioning factory in Middelburg, producing piping systems and equipment for the mining and power industries.

Number of people Employed.
The HMA Group has grown from two people to more than 280 people. In South Africa the group employs 45 people, with a head office in Johannesburg and a production manufacturing facility in Middelburg.

Current Shareholders:
Ownership has transferred from the original owners to an employee-based ownership of 74 people.
In 2020 HMA Group achieved BBBEE level 1 status.
 

Greatest Corporate Achievement:
Forty years ago, ceramic lined pipe was seen as expensive and was rarely used. With the ever-increasing demand on environmentally sensitive process operations in the mining, power generation and processing industries, the need for long lasting, reliable piping systems was critical. HMA WS drove the  development of reliability of the ceramic piping systems to achieve the required performance. The system developed is innovative and robust. The HMA WS system allows for interchangeable lining materials, the result of which optimises wear life, increases plant availability, and reduces operating cost. To have been the global leaders in innovation in this market sector is something the company is very proud of.
 

Hope for the Future
To continue the education and development of our people and the local manufacturing facility, by working with the mining, power generation and processing industries to improve the environmental impact of operations through the use of higher quality systems. In this way the whole community benefits.