Minopex Mozambique | Africa Outlook Magazine Page 1 of 4

Perfectly Placed for the Commodity Boom

Writer: Matthew Staff

Project Manager: Arron Rampling

Minopex has worked tirelessly to replicate its well-

established South African operations in Mozambique over
the past four years and is now in a prime position to
capitalise on a future boom in the commodity market in
the country.

Invited into its initial operation in the East African nation

in 2011, the mining operations and maintenance
contractor has since leveraged and duplicated the vast
expertise and industry knowledge across the full range of
mineral processing activities to now be the leading player
in Mozambique; stealing a march on any prospective
competitors looking to enter the rapidly developing
country in years to come.

Since being chosen by Jindal Steel and Power to carry out

operations and maintenance at its Chirodzi plant,
Minopex Mozambique has gone from strength to strength
through the attraction and application of its full turnkey
offering.

The Company’s Managing Director, Dave Spottiswoode

says: “The move into Mozambique was a general move
from our owners, Minopex South Africa, with it necessary
for the Company to expand across borders.

“Our turnkey approach has been very successful across the

Group because it saves the clients on capital, with us
essentially doing the dirty work for them. The only aspect
the clients own and need to bring to the project is the
plant itself.”

The remaining elements taken care of within the Minopex

service comprises the personnel from top to bottom and
all technical equipment, all the way to office furniture,
vehicles, IT software and major tools needed to fulfil the
requirements of the plant.

Across the wider Group, Minopex is equipped to run plants

processing the full host of minerals; from diamond,
chrome, platinum and gold, to coal which is the sole
commodity being catered for within Mozambique at
present.

“The world’s commodity market isn’t great at the moment,

and things are tight in Mozambique, but what we have
done is position ourselves for the next couple of years for
when things get better and take off in a rather big way,”
Spottiswoode continues. “We’ve set ourselves up; we’ve
got the vehicles, the people, the accommodation, and
everything else required within Mozambique.

“We’re there, and now we’re just waiting for the boom.

Versatile offering

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The turnkey philosophy which has been so integral to

Minopex’s growth over the years is epitomised by the
Group’s initial rise in South Africa between 1996 and 2012;
by which point the Company was carrying out operations
and maintenance across 27 plants for some of the
industry’s most well-reputed businesses.

“Ranging from diamonds, platinum, gold, coal and chrome

- basically any metal or mineral - we have the ability to
get involved in it. This became a very popular model quite
quickly because the bigger we became, the more versatile
we became as well.”

This versatility enables Minopex to pull upon expertise,

equipment and capacity from adjacent plants, while
keeping more administrative processes centralised to
achieve an ideal balance from which to expand and
remain entrepreneurial and flexible.

“This flexibility was something we were moving away from

in South Africa purely because of the size we had grown
to,” Spottiswoode says. “My belief is that every operation
is different and every client is different, and my idea is to
run the Company as a silo type of operation with each
plant running exactly according to the client’s
specifications.

“If the client wants us to supply the vehicles then we will,

but if they prefer to supply their own, then we won’t. The
same goes for the purchasing of consumables or raw
materials, for example.

“We’re extremely versatile and open in our offerings, and

willing to tailor our operations to each client’s
requirements within their plants.”

Track record

With the all-encompassing, yet customisable, approach

that Minopex has honed and refined over the years still a
niche attribute in the industry at large, the reputation
that has been formed within the sector has been
comprehensively positive, and has laid the groundwork for
all current and future contracts being attained.

“When discussing big contracts, we are able to state

confidently that we can perform to the highest standards
because we have the track record proven throughout our
other operations. Essentially we can display that we do
what is required better than the client could do it
themselves,” Spottiswoode states.

This track record is equally impressive from an all-

important health and safety perspective with no lost-time
injuries reported across its tenure in Mozambique;
Spottiswoode emphasising this element and the safety of
Minopex’s employees as “the driving force behind
operations, and first and foremost in carrying out
processes”.

As a consequence, Minopex is also at the forefront of

potential clients’ minds, including, most recently, Vale.
Having completed short-term periods of operation for the
globally-renowned organisation in recent years, the two
businesses are now looking at a potentially longer term
partnership.

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“It is an owner-operated plant which they have asked us

to come into over the past three years for commissioning
and training of their people,” Spottiswoode explains.
“They’ve seen us come in and make massive
improvements for six-nine month periods, and have also
seen those improvements fade away when we’re gone, so
for them to look at us to operate their plant moving
forward is major because it is by far the biggest operation
in Mozambique.”

Localisation

Expanding the footprint into Mozambique hasn’t been

exclusively challenge-free despite the leveraging of the
Company’s South African experience and unrivalled
regional reputation, with skills shortages in the still
maturing Mozambique a problem which Minopex has had
to resolve internally.

An extensive localisation strategy has been integral in

developing national levels of expertise, with the overall
aim of reducing the amount of expatriates working within
the business.

Spottiswoode notes: “It is not only of primary importance

in order to develop the locals within the country, but also
in reducing the amount of capital going towards expats
and all the salaries, accommodation and travel costs that
come with them.

“So, both in terms of costs and what we needed to do for

the benefit of the country, we have an extensive
localisation strategy which we have been running for
three years now, and we have now got to the stage where
we are virtually only reliant on local artisans that we’ve
trained ourselves.”

Having established such a foothold in Mozambique before

the real industry boom has even taken place leaves
Minopex in a commanding position moving forward with
any new entries to the market having to play catch-up
and build a reputation from scratch.

It also fulfils the more concerted, overriding philosophy of

utilising local resources which can similarly be seen
throughout its supply chain where possible, and through
the Company’s adherence to CSR in the surrounding
communities.

Advanced services

Regardless of the dominant market position that Minopex

enjoys within Mozambique, the Company still refuses to
rest on its laurels, continuously looking for new
opportunities to improve its current operations, as well as
looking for new plants to operate within.

“We’re always on the lookout for new plants but things are
constrained in Mozambique at this moment in time so we
have moved out of our normal operations and
maintenance practices to diversify in the country,”
Spottiswoode says.

The result is a separate company having been formed

called Ensermo (Engineering Services Mozambique) which
has been $2.5 million in the making and consists of a
specialised engineering unit.

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The Managing Director explains: “In South Africa, there

are usually specialist engineers local to your operations,
but there are none of those advanced services available
here in Mozambique, so we took the decision, based on us
planning to be here for a long time, to build a fully
integrated workshop in the Tete area at our own cost.”

Already coming into its own in carrying out major

overhauls, motor rewinds, pipe installations, steel
fabrications and analysis activities, the recently
commissioned addition to the Minopex portfolio is a niche
which has already brought the Company a lot of business
as it looks towards the next stage of its development in
Mozambique.

Spottiswoode concludes: “Moving forward, we will remain

totally focused on our clients and their needs and will
continue to bend over backwards to do what they want
and require.

“We have training programmes in place to attract the

right people in order to do this as efficiently as possible
and, as we’ve proved in the past, we believe we can
operate the plants more efficiently than the owners
themselves.” ↸ (/)

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