Senmin International (Pty) Ltd

MINING CHEMICALS SPECIALIST

SENMIN: MINING CHEMICALS SPECIALISTSENMIN OF SOUTH AFRICA IS THE SOLE LOCAL MANUFACTURER OF CHEMICALS USED FOR THE BENEFICIATION AND FLOCCULATION OF A WIDE RANGE OF ORE BODIES

WRITTEN BY: KEVIN DOYLE, SENIOR EDITOR PRODUCED BY: NIZAR KANAFANI

Senmin International (Pty) Ltd

WITH A HISTORY THAT DATES back to the late 1950s, Senmin International of South Africa is a mining chemicals manufacturer and services provider.

Senmin is a wholly-owned subsidiary of specialty chemicals and explosives specialist AECI International of South Africa.

Senmin maintains headquarters in Johannesburg and a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Sasolburg. With a workforce of 400, the company services Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, DRC and Botswana in addition to South Africa, and is branching out into Morocco, Ghana, Tanzania and Madagascar. Following a merger with Chemserve in 2005, Senmin was taken over by AECI and is now part of the parent company’s chemical cluster, which provides materials and services across a broad spectrum. Senmin leads the way for AECI’s venture into mining chemicals.

“Our current main market is within Africa but our aspirations are beyond our borders to the big mining Laboratory equipment used for reagent research

Senmin International (Pty) Ltd page 5Mining chemicals specialist

Bulk handling equipment manufactured and installed at a client’s site by Senmin

areas such as South America and Australasia,” says Technical Director Dr Patrick Dicks, who holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Port Elizabeth. Dr Dicks came to Senmin in the merger with Chemserve after having previously worked in the company for ten years and prior to that at a mining research organisation, named MINTEK for a further ten years.

VALUE OF RELATIONSHIPS

Dr Dicks cites Senmin’s long-tenured and deeply

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SUPPLIER STATS

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knowledgeable staff as a key element distinguishing the company from competitors. Senmin provides in-depth and on-going training in all operations to those coming straight from an academic environment. This constitutes part of its commitment to giving back to the community and to the mining industry at large.

“With longevity of service comes familiarity with product lines. There comes loyalty and an intimate knowledge of the industry from those who have been operating within it for a number of years. You develop a large base of application knowledge and of what the clients’ requirements are, plus you develop an intimate relationship with senior management,” Dr Dicks explained.“If a raw material skyrockets or should a technical requirement come about, Senmin is always

willing to assist. We are intimately involved with our clients as they progress and their requirements change,” he continued.

OPERATIONS

Senmin operates on a full-service business model whereby it performs an initial safety audit and provides clients with value added services such

OUR CURRENT MAIN MARKET IS WITHIN AFRICA BUT OUR ASPIRATIONS ARE BEYOND OUR

BORDERS TO WHEREVER THERE IS MINING ACTIVITY, ESPECIALLY IN THE BIG MINING AREAS SUCH AS

SOUTH AMERICA AND AUSTRALASIA DR PATRICK DICKS, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Senmin International (Pty) Ltd page 9Mining chemicals specialist

as product and process management, product optimisation, benchmarking, statistical evaluation and data validation

Senmin’s products aid in the beneficiation of platinum, diamonds, coal, gold, uranium and copper. Most of its products are used in the froth flotation and tailings treatment sectors of the mining industry.

As listed on its website, the company’s portfolio

includes specialty liquid thio mineral collectors, mineral froth formation chemicals, unwanted gangue mineral depressants, polyacrylamide thickening polymers and tailings polymeric rheology modifiers.

Froth flotation is the process for separating minerals away from gangue, the worthless material surrounding or mixed with the desired mineral. The flocculation process brings together small particles

Sasolburg plant

Senmin International (Pty) Ltd page 11Mining chemicals specialist

of the gangue and/or final concentrate thereby allowing for the recovery of one of the most valuable resources, namely water, for reuse in the flotation circuit.

Dr Dicks says the company’s ambitious expansion scheme across three facilities in Sasolburg “is a massive throw of the dice designed to improve technology and capacity. It expresses not only Senmin/AECI’s commitment to the mining industry but a faith in the ever expanding requirements. In addition the technology is greener with the environment uppermost in our plans”.

“The AECI Group has a very strong tendency, like most companies, to go green albeit

with an end product that is not necessarily a green product,” Dr. Dicks says. “The polyacrylamide plant is the first- time in the world on the industrial scale where biotechnology is being used in the manufacture of polyacrylamides.

“For all intents and purposes, it’s a zero effluent plant with an energy consumption that is considerably lower than other processes.”

In another example of environmental responsibility, the company made a technological change in the manufacturing process of an additional key raw material used in xanthate production: “We’ve changed from a charcoal sulfur process to a Laboratory evaluation by flotation

Senmin International (Pty) Ltd page 13Mining chemicals specialist

methane process. Emissions and energy requirements have been greatly reduced. Currently Senmin is undertaking a LCA (Life-Cycle Assessment) pertaining to this particular process at the University of Cape Town.” says Dr Dicks.

Senmin upholds ISO9000:2003 and 9001:2000 certifications for quality management systems, five-star accreditation with a NOSCAR award for safety in 2011 and ISO1400 and 1401 accreditation for environmental management.

The company also maintains internal oversight of its supply chain with all purchasing and logistics management taking place in Sasolburg.

FORWARD THINKING

While the scope of the recent expansion projects will likely limit capital expenditure spending through the near future, Senmin seems certain to continue to seek out opportunities to expand its product lines to new markets in a measured manner.Flotation circuit

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CS2 plant in the foreground with polyacrylamide plant in the background

“We will take it as it comes. The business is currently built around the platinum industry. We’ve expanded with one product form (xantahtes) into three forms, liquid, powder and pellet. The production of pellets is for the export market requirement – and that is where our growth will come from,” Dr Dicks concludes. afbr

Name: Senmin International (Pty) Ltd Industry: Manufacturing Products: Mining chemicals manufacture Founded: 1967 Headquarters: Johannesburg, South Africa Key People: Technical Director: Dr Patrick Dicks Revenue: Not disclosed Employees: 400 Website: www.senmin.co.za

STATISTICS

Senmin International (Pty) Ltd page 17Mining chemicals specialist

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Senmin International (Pty) LtdFalconview House

Constantia Office Park14th Ave and Hendrik Potgieter Street

Weltevredenpark, South Africa

T: +27 11.246.6300 E: enquiries@senmin.co.za

www.senmin.co.za

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