Endeavour Magazine August 2022

CONTROLDYNAMICFLUID CHAMBER OF MINES GHANA Dug in MOTISUNGROUP Much to offer UNIVERSITYAMERICANOFBEIRUT A smarterfuture DAVIS SHIRTLIFF& pipelinesHealthy under control Inspired by YOUR SUCCESS UK £4.95 CAN $7.95 USA $7.95 EUR €5.95 SA ZAR 69.00 AUGUST 2022 www.littlegatepublishing.com

Editor’s Note Somehow, we’re over halfway through 2022 already. In the middle of summer, between vacations, heatwaves and Eid, it has felt like a sleepy month in many regards. If we follow the world news, of course, this is far from the case – from wars to threatened civil liberties, there are concerning stories coming in from around the globe. This Editor’s thoughts are with the people of Ukraine, the citizens of North America, and so many other people in dire situations that deserve our attention. In terms of our features this month, it has been a return to Endeavour for many familiar names and faces, just as our Amazing World this month is celebrating the return of the bison to the UK! However, it is not returns so much as farewells on my mind, as this issue will be my final full issue of Endeavour Magazine. As of mid-August, I will be stepping down from the Editor’s chair and moving on to new horizons after six memorial years with Littlegate. I will miss the people in our team, who have been much like a family, and I will also miss our regular interviewees, and the wonderful excuse I’ve had to speak with so many fascinating people from around the globe. This magazine has shared many exciting stories with you over the years, and some of the people we’ve met through them will remain fondly in my memory.

by Alice Instone-Brewer

Saleseditor@littlegatepublishing.comManager

I wanted to take this moment to thank you all for reading, for sharing your stories with us and for following our little magazine on its journey all these years. Soon, our teams shall be growing at Littlegate, and under a new Editor, I have no doubt that exciting changes are in store. In the meantime, I wish all the best to everyone we have featured and hope your company journeys will continue to thrive. And to everyone reading – I hope you enjoy this issue, and that you have enjoyed the ones that came before it! Take care, everyone, and thank you for your indulgence these past six years.

Salesemlynfreeman@littlegatepublishing.comManager

Projectandrew@littlegatepublishing.comDirector

Corporatejames@littlegatepublishing.comDirector

Editor-in-Chief

Leadanthonyl@littlegatepublishing.comDesigner Alina Sandu Founderstudio@littlegatepublishing.comandCEO Stephen Warman Forstevewarman@littlegatepublishing.comenquiriesorsubscriptionscontact +44info@littlegatepublishing.com1603296100 ENDEAVOUR MAGAZINE is published by Littlegate Publishing LTD which is a Registered Company in the United CompanyKingdom.Registration: 07657236 VAT registration number: 116 776007 343 City Road Suite 10, Thorpe House London 79 Thorpe Road EC1 V1LR Norwich, NR1 1UA Littlegate Publishing Ltd does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in articles by at tributing writers and/or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessar ily represent those of the publisher. Any re semblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the infor mation contained within this magazine, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of in formation published. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrievable system or trans mitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher. LittlegateCopyright©Publishing Ltd 2022 Endeavour Magazine | 3

Heads of Departments Alice Instone-Brewer

Emlyn Freeman

Andrew Williams

James Lapping

Anthony Letchumaman

13 Dynamic Fluid Control Under control 19 Chamber of Mines Ghana Dug in 27 Tietto Minerals All on track 33 American University of Beirut A smarter future 39 Keppel Corporation Urban, green, marine 45 Davis & Shirtliff Healthy pipelines 59 Anaconda Mining Panning for Atlantic gold 65 Motisun Group Much to offer 71 AIMS Data Centre Perfect aim 77 Formex Gearing up 83 Desalcott Keeping fresh 89 Plipdeco The islands’ heart 95 National Energy Corporation Trinidad and Tobago Limited Powering a nation 103 NamWater Holding waterCHAMBER OF MINES GHANA Features 4 | Endeavour Magazine

Business Headlines 6 Asia 7 Africa 8 Americas 10 Middle East 11 Europe Amazing World 52 Re-Wild Bison AIMS DATA CENTRE TIETTO AMERICANMINERALSUNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT Articles Endeavour Magazine | 5

Yet millions in Pakistan, including women, transgender people, migrant workers and nomadic communities, are still without a CNIC.

Established in 2000, NADRA maintains the nation’s biometric database, and says it has issued some 120 million CNICs to 96 percent of adults in the nation of about 212 million people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government wants lawmakers’ approval for amendments to existing policies in the current session of parliament, according to people familiar with the plans. Eight minerals, including lithium, beryllium and zirconium will be removed from a restricted list that currently prohibits production by private companies.

Many female or transgender citizens have found their ability to apply for a card blocked if they cannot produce their father’s papers. For the children of absent fathers, this has been a roadblock.

The nation has pledged to build 500 gigawatts of clean power capacity by 2030, and the deployment of huge volumes of battery storage is seen as vital to enable round-the-clock use of renewables.

A court ruling has finally ruled that in these cases, citizens can produce their mother’s papers.

The agency in charge of the CNIC, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), has said it is striving to reach people

Sri Lankan government limits fuel imports Sri Lanka, facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades, has been facing a lack of essentials such as fuel, gas and medicines for months. This followed its foreign exchange reserves running dry because, in part, to the effects of COVID-19.Energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera has announced that fuel distribution will be restricted for 12 months due to a severe shortage of foreign exchange.Underthe new rationing system announced by the government, small cars will be given 20 litres of petrol per week. Taxi drivers say they will be among the worst affected by the government’s decision.

A digital ID card is essential in Pakistan in order to vote. It is also needed in order to access government benefits, public schooling and healthcare, to open a bank account or apply for jobs.

The changes would allow the government to auction permits to exploit lithium reserves. They are also aimed at reducing India’s dependence on imports for some key minerals, and to put the country in a better position to compete in the lucrative battery supply chain, according to the people. India wants to add local manufacturing of a swathe of zero-emissions technologies as it chases a target of becoming carbon neutral by 2070 and to capture opportunities from the global transition to cleaner energy.

Sri Lanka has also reopened its schools, after fuel shortages and political unrest kept them closed for nearly a month. However, public sector employees have been asked to continue working from home for another month.

Business Headlines

6 | Endeavour Magazine

Millions in Pakistan without digital ID card

Asia India wants to open up lithium mining India is seeking to change laws to allow private miners to extract lithium, the key ingredient for batteries used for electric vehicles and energy storage, as the nation aims to be more selfsufficient in green technologies.

Nigerian opposition senators are pushing for President Muhammadu Buhari to face impeachment, less than a year before the end of his second term in office, over the country’s spreading security problems.InFebruary 2023, Nigerians go to the polls to elect a new president. Security and the state of the economy will be the main issues.

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From the information gathered, BHRI said that the military operation is linked to “a trend of increasing militarisation” in Burundi, countering President Evariste Ndayishimiye’s attempts to present a conciliatory and acceptable image on the international stage. Despite the operation being an open secret, the government has not officially acknowledged sending troops to the DRC.

In a report, the group detailed how, since December 2021, hundreds of military and members of the ruling party’s youth league were sent to DRC to fight RED-Tabara, a Burundian armed opposition group. According to the report, the mission was not in conjunction with the Congolese armed forces. Instead, the Burundian army had formed alliances with armed groups in the country – some of who oppose the Congolese army. The rights group interviewed soldiers and civilians from both Burundi and DRC, including ruling party and opposition members, and Imbonerakure and their relatives.

At least three soldiers from an elite unit of presidential guards have killed in the Bwari district of the city. They had been responding to threats of an imminent attack on the Nigerian Law School located in the area. Nearby Veritas University has since shut down and sent students home.

The Burundi government has been sending its forces and members of the ruling civilian youth party on a ‘secret’ mission to fight Burundian armed opposition groups in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Burundi Human Rights Initiative (BHRI) said.

Abuja residents have been feeling uneasy since armed men broke into a prison in the city and released hundreds of criminals a few weeks ago.

Intelligence reports suggest armed groups are planning attacks in several states, including on the capital. Schools, mainly in northern Nigeria, have become a target of kidnapping gangs in recent years - with hundreds of students held for ransom. Most private schools were in the middle of exams when they were ordered by the authorities to close. The news has caused concern for parents in a city populated by many civil servants, who often send their children to private schools. While some schools in Abuja had already closed for the term, the majority were not scheduled to close until next week.

At a closed Senate session, senators of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) tried to introduce a motion giving Buhari six weeks to improve the country’s security or face impeachment. Aduda said the motion was blocked by the Senate president, prompting a walkout by opposition senators. Parliament is controlled by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party. Any move to impeach Buhari would require support from twothirds of the 109 senators.

Nigeria is struggling with security problems across its vast territory, including armed robberies, an armed uprising in the northeast and mass school abductions in the northwest.

The next day, the government shut down one of its secondary schools in the Kwali suburb of Abuja after a security incident close by. This level of insecurity in the city is unprecedented since President Buhari took office in 2015.

All schools have been told to shut and send children home amid security fears in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and in nearby Nasarawa state.

Africa Nigerian senators urge Buhari impeachment

Nigeria shuts schools in Abuja over fears of attack

Rights group concerned about Burundi’s ‘secret’ mission in DRC

The ruling was the latest against the state’s efforts to label gender affirming care as child abuse, which began in March. Many families with transgender children are leaving the state for fear that this will continue.

The Federal Reserve said it would increase its key rate by 0.75 percentage points, targeting a range of 2.25% to 2.5%.

In her order, Judge Amy Clark Meachum said she was still weighing whether to issue a similar order prohibiting similar investigations against the third family and PFLAG members.

Transgender Texas kids and their families have been terrified since the state’s governor ordered that parents supporting their children’s gender affirming surgery be investigated for child abuse.

The US has made a “substantial offer” to bring two American detainees home from Russia, its top diplomat has said.

Americas US makes huge interest rate rise to tame soaring prices

The US central bank has announced another unusually large interest rate hike as it battles to rein in soaring prices in the world’s largest economy.

“Nothing works in the economy without price stability,” he said. “We need to see inflation coming down...That’s not something we can avoid doing.”

The judge’s ruling extends in part a temporary order issued last month blocking investigations against three families who sued and preventing any similar investigations against members of the LGBTQ advocacy group PFLAG Inc. The group has more than 600 members in Texas.

The bank has been raising borrowing costs since March to try to cool the economy and ease price inflation. Fears are rising the moves will tip the US into

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would raise the issue in a call with Russia’s foreign minister by the end of July.

A Texas judge issued an order to continue blocking the state from investigating two families of transgender youth who have received gender affirming medical care, and said she was considering whether to prevent additional investigations.

Recentrecession.reports have shown falling consumer confidence, a slowing housing market, jobless claims rising and the first contraction in business activity since 2020. In many countries, that milestone is considered a recession, though it is measured differently in the US. At a press conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged that parts of the economy were slowing, but said the bank was likely to keep raising interest rates in the months ahead despite the risks, pointing to inflation that is running at a 40-year high.

Brittney Griner: US could swap Russia arms dealer for two Americans

8 | Endeavour Magazine

Texas Judge Blocks Investigations Of 2 Trans Youth Families

Reports in US media suggest Moscow is interested in exchanging basketball star Brittney Griner for convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed talks were ongoing but insisted no agreement had beenDespitereached.MrBlinken’s claims that he will speak with Mr Lavrov, a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson told the state-owned Tass news agency that they were not aware of any scheduled call. Mr Blinken and Sergei Lavrov have not spoken since the war in Ukraine began. The arms dealer, dubbed the merchant of death, is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence in the US on charges he attempted to sell weapons to a Colombian rebel group to kill Americans.

The protesters oppose the candidacy of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, a former minister and ex-provincial governor, who is the pro-Iran Coordination Framework’s pick for premier. Most of the protestors were followers of the Iraqi Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sadr’s bloc won 73 seats in Iraq’s October 2021 election, making it the largest faction in the 329-seat parliament. But since the vote, talks to form a new government have stalled and al-Sadr has stepped down from the political process.

Tunisia holds referendum on a new constitution

Tunisia’s divided opposition parties have called his moves a coup that risks flinging Tunisia back into the autocratic era from before the revolution and putting the final nail into the coffin of the 2011 “Arab Spring” uprisings. But amid an economic crisis and deepening hardship, there has been little in the way of protest against Saied, whose power grab last year was welcomed by many Tunisians who were fed up with political bickering and government failure. With little apparent enthusiasm for the vote and a boycott by major parties, analysts expect a “yes” vote with a low turnout.

Rising anti-refugee sentiment in Turkey

Middle East

However, rising reports of violence, abuse and crime between Syrian and Turkish communities in various cities across the country have made it hard to ignore the increased tension.

10 | Endeavour Magazine

Iraqi protesters storm the parliament in Baghdad’s Green Zone

Elected in 2019, Saied has said freedoms will be protected.

A total of 200,950 Syrians have become citizens of Turkey after taking refuge in the country since the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011.

The Turkish presidency says approximately 320,000 people of other nationalities –predominantly from Afghanistan – are also under international protection in Turkey, putting the total refugee number at more than four million, the world’s largest refugee population in one country.

Hundreds of Iraqi demonstrators have stormed the parliament building in Baghdad to protest against the nomination for prime minister by Iranbacked parties. No lawmakers were present in parliament when the protesters penetrated the capital’s highsecurity Green Zone, home to government buildings and diplomatic missions. Only security forces were inside the building and they appeared to allow the protesters in with relative ease.

Tunisians are voting in a referendum on a new constitution that critics of President Kais Saied fear will dismantle the democracy that emerged from a 2011 revolution by handing him nearly total power. The vote is being held on the first anniversary of Saied’s ousting of an elected parliament, when he established emergency rule and began governing by fiat.

With the Turkish government struggling to deal with one of the most serious economic crises the country has faced in decades, another troubling problem is rearing its head – the rise of anti-refugee sentiment in the country.

A study conducted in July by ORC, an Ankarabased polling company, suggests that almost 54 percent of Turks believe that their neighbourhood has a ‘refugee problem’. In the Marmara region, where the country’s largest city and economic hub Istanbul is located, it goes up to more than 60 percent.

According to the Turkish government, approximately 3.7 million Syrian refugees out of a total of 5.5 million foreigners are living in Turkey.

Russian and Russian-backed forces have been struggling to make meaningful progress on the ground since their capture in early July of the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk.

Russian forces suffered a setback in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region after Ukrainian forces struck an important bridge straddling the Dnipro river with what a Russian-appointed local administrator said were United States-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS).

Russia’s Gazprom cuts gas supply through key pipeline to Europe Russian energy giant Gazprom has drastically cut gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline to about 20 percent of its capacity. The Russian state-run company had announced that it would reduce supply to 33 million cubic metres a day – half the amount it has been delivering since service resumed last week after 10 days of maintenance work.

The Kremlin reacted to the court’s decision by saying it was “extremely negative” and that Russia would take similar measures against Western media in response.Kremlinspokesperson Dmitry Peskov said RT was unable to work in Europe but he hoped it would find loopholes to resume broadcasting.

The fate of Ukraine’s second-biggest power plant was hanging in the balance after Russianbacked forces claimed to have captured it intact, but Kyiv did not confirm its seizure, saying only that fighting was under way nearby.

Ukraine did not confirm the power plant’s capture and only said that “hostilities” were under way in two nearby areas.

Seizing the Soviet-era coal-fired Vuhlehirsk power plant in eastern Ukraine would be Moscow’s first strategic gain in more than three weeks in its attempted invasion of Ukraine.

Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Russianinstalled regional administration in Kherson, confirmed the bridge had been hit overnight and traffic had been halted.

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Ukraine hits bridge in Kherson

A top European Union court has upheld a broadcast ban imposed on state-owned channel Russia Today (RT) as part of the bloc’s sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. The judgement by the Luxembourg-based General Court threw out an appeal against the ban, which the EU imposed over accusations that the network spreads disinformation.

Europe Russian & Ukrainian forces both claim control of vital power plant

A European Union court upholds broadcast ban on Russian stateowned channel

Unverified footage posted on social media appeared to show fighters from Russia’s Wagner private military company posing in front of the Vuhlehirsk power plant, which some Russian state media reported separately had been stormed.

EU states have accused Russia of squeezing supplies in retaliation for Western sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Gazprom cited the halted operation of one of the last two operating turbines for the pipeline due to the “technical condition of theTheengine”.German economy ministry dismissed the explanation, saying there was “no technical reason for a reduction of deliveries”.

UNDER CONTROL Dynamic Fluid Control chevron-square-right dfc.co.za phone-square 27 10 300 4900 Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

Dynamic Fluid Control

14 | Endeavour Magazine

Based in South Africa, Dynamic Fluid Control is able to make the incredible claim of being the largest valve manufacturer in the whole of Africa. These valves benefit a number of industries: mining, power generation, water, agriculture – the list goes on. Supplying 129 countries around the world, and with so many industries reached, Dynamic Fluid Control’s valves play an essential role for the operation all manner of companies. In celebration of its 75th year of business, we took a closer look at the company and what it provides.

ounded back in 1947, Dynamic Fluid Control (DFC) celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. With that long in business behind it, it is no wonder that the company has grown to the scale of success that it has reached today – though, of course, time by itself is no guarantee of success. It had taken expertise, dedication and wise business choices to get DFC to where it is today, as the largest manufacturer of its kind in the continent. In addition to these valve manufacturing works, the company also provides solutions for water pipeline protection, active pressure and water loss management.DFC’sfacilities include full machining capabilities from conventional drilling, turning and milling through to CNC turning and machining centres, multi-spindle transfer and purpose machines, rubber mixing, compression and injection moulding. Overall, these various products and solutions are applicable to a range of industries, which DFC supplies both within African and beyond. For example, its valves play a major part in the mining industry. DFC has had an active hand in supplying mineral extracting and mineral processing companies since 1982.

F

The same can be said of every sector DFC supplies. Its valves and pipelines, as well as its pipeline protection, is all of great importance when it comes to agriculture. South Africa, as a country, uses 50% of its water on its agricultural sector, which puts great pressure on the resource for the rest of the country. Doing its part to counter this, DFC’s valve brands distribute water efficiently around crops, as well as control the feed pressure of the water, which allows careful monitoring of exactly how much water is used. Similar considerations are applied to the distribution of potable water to the people of Africa. DFC has been involved in potable water piping since the year it opened. These operations are not only

As it says to these companies: “Your commitment to protecting the environment is supported by our relentless commitment to quality.” Thoughts to sustainability and clean, ethical practice is receiving rising attention in the mining industry, and there is a closely tied relationship between clean operations and efficiency, to avoid both needless of waste and spent energy. Likewise, there is a close connection between efficiency and a quality product.

SPECIALISTS IN THE VALVE MARKET MSV Butter y valves CI GearLeverSSbody,discandoperated

This South African company has much to be proud of. As it says itself, “We are a proudly local content manufacturer, supporting and driving economic growth in our local communities.” Black-owned, the company describes itself as “proudly South African”, but also “proudly global.” As it says; “Our engineering and innovation platform harnesses our global talent from our wholly owned International Operations in South Africa, the USA, Finland, Brazil and Australia.”

developing new and innovative valve designs and solutions, never content to rest, but instead determined to offer the best products it is able to create. This new technology could assist in every sector the company works in: power generation, agriculture, mineral processing industries and, of course, water and potable water. One of the company’s current growth strategies, in order to be able to produce these valves to the quality and quantity that they want, is to create demand. The company achieves this by educating its market on its valves and services: this aims to create demand on a project level, thus ensuring a steady, sustainable growth for both the company and its stakeholders.

Moving forwards, after 75 years in the business, what is next for DFC? The company plans to continue

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DFC’s products are used by a number of other industries, but these are its main areas of focus, and where its technology shines the brightest, by no small part because the way these sectors handle water is vitally important. In a country where water can be a scarce commodity, this is twice as true, and its size and success are a testament to the fact that DFC provides.

Dynamic Control

DFC is also preparing for the future by investing in its infrastructure. In particular, it is currently focused on the creation of new distribution centres: by creating enough of these, the company can expand its distributor network, delivering products more smoothly and reliable to its existing customers, and also accessing new ones in-so-far untapped countries. DFC has been identifying its next countries of interest – ones with high growth potential either due to its economy or the industry sectors that DFC’s valves are most used in – and is local to the company in South Africa, but take place the continent over, including as far North as Egypt.

Fluid

Under control now putting down bricks as needed to tap these markets and further spread its reach. So far, the company has 567 trusted agents and distributors, in South Africa and abroad, and this number is only set to Thisrise.leads on to DFC’s last area of growth. When one is expanding, one must not only invest in resources, but in people. A growing company needs to develop new talent, and DFC is doing just this.

Given the essential role these parts play in so many industries, this is good news to countless companies – both those who are customers now, and those who will be in the future as DFC continues to spread its market reach.

As the largest company of its kind within the African continent, it’s fair to say that DFC knows how to grow in a way that is steady, reliable and built to last. With 75 years behind it, it seems likely that it will live on to see many more, continuing its hard-learn lessons and forever exploring new and improved ways to deliver the products and services it boasts.

Endeavour Magazine | 17

Hiring locally where it can, the company seeks to bring in, train up and retain its stuff, with the longterm aim of “promoting the ‘Can-Do’ Attitude of world-class South African Leaders.”

ALL ON TRACK Tietto Minerals chevron-square-right www.tietto.com phone-square +61 8 9420 8270 Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

W eb: www.tietto.com

Recently, we featured Tietto Minerals with the latest on their question towards first gold at the company’s Abujar Gold Project. Since then, the mine has had a series of exciting developments, taking it closer on its journey towards this milestone day. We decided to re-visit our piece with them and bring it to you again, now with the latest information included

Tietto Minerals 20 | Endeavour Magazine

Figure 8: TSF - HDPE lining L

ocated approximately 30km from the major city of Daloa, the Abujar Gold Project is, according to Tietto Minerals, set to be West Africa’s next major gold mine. Now fully financed, the mine is thought to be a 3.45m oz site, with its current lifetime revenue predicted to be US$2.87 billion (at a US$1,700/oz gold price). Its first gold is expected to be fully mined and processed by Q4 this year: in fact, following recent drill results, the company has been able to confirm that construction should be complete in time for a first gold pour in December 2022, with 260,000oz of gold to have been produced by 2023. Tietto Minerals first took notice of the Abujar Gold Project mine site in 2014. Located in Côte d’Ivoire, the land first showed prospective signs of mineralisation through some unorthodox activity.

Today, after an incredibly fast turn-around, this same land holds an active gold mine site that has been developed and constructed by Tietto Minerals and the companies it called in from scratch, and it is nearing completion. We communicated with Caigan Wang, Managing Director about how the situation is currently looking. He told us that as of July 2022, the mine now has six diamond drill rigs running day and night, having drilled a total of 100,000m this year, with highly promising new drill results. (12m @ 20.96 g/t Au from 298m incl. 5m @ 48.57 g/t Au - incl. 2m @ 120.21 g/t Au; 6m @ 6.36 g/t Au from 329m incl. 4m @ 9.4 g/t Au and 9m @ 8.1 g/t Au from 258m incl. 2m @ 28.64 g/t Au). But how did it all begin? “For us, the challenge was not finding project financing,” Caigen explained; “The challenge was finding which financer we wanted to work with. If you look at how fast we progressed the project from scratch to where it is now, you will see that we needed to find financial providers who were able to meet our fast mine construction schedule.” Being able to turn offers of finance away, in favour of holding out for the perfect match, is a desirable situation to be in. The company pivoted the development of the project to full equity funding in order to speed up the journey to first production, and to accelerate development in a flexible structure at significantly lower cost. Caigen explained that Tietto had spoken with over a thousand interested potential financial providers, all differing in the type of financial service they offered, how this financing would be structured, and crucially, their time-frames. Finally, Tietto found its perfect pairing in Taurus: “Taurus works very fast too, so we match very well.”

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Operating at a CapEx of 30% self-funded, 70% financed, and with the recent acquisition of US$114 million funding this year and AU$85 million the year before that (A$130 million total), the project is now not only fully funded, but also nearing the end of construction. Not only this, its Definitive Feasibility Study was completed recently, in October 2021, with the following results: in total, the site has a Mineral Resource of at least 3.35 million ounces of gold, with Ore Reserves of 1.4 million ounces. The mine is expected to be able to yield more than 200,000 ounces per year for the first six years of production, and investors are expected to receive their first financial return on the project after only its first year of production. All of this makes now an exciting period for Tietto, Taurus and the mine’s investors, and whilst its current mine-life is only officially rules at 11 years, further exploration and data suggests a probable life of over 20 years. So, where did it all begin? “It was early 2014 when I was introduced to the area,” Caigen told us. “At that time, there were many artisanal miners doing illegal mining activity there, so, frankly speaking, the area’s mineralisation was discovered by the illegal miners.” This was an unusual-seeming, yet extremely informative way to stumble upon a land’s potential! The artisanal miners would not have wasted their time on an area with nothing to yield, and these particular illegal miners were in no small numbers, either: “We had 20 thousand illegal miners there. The pattern of the miners made it quite clear that they were digging along a few kilometres of strike area. So, it wasn’t random – it showed regular patterns. This gives you an indication of the mineralisation structure there. All in all, seeing this made us act quickly.”

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The extensive experience in mining of our key staff and a commitment to delivering low-overhead, economical Electrical and Control solutions has seen us develop strong and successful relationships throughout the mining industry.

We are proud to partner with Tietto Minerals as it develops the exciting Abujar Gold Project in Cote d’Ivoire.

management, procurement, construction management and site

With origins like this, the story of the Abujar Gold Project raises the question of its relationship with the local communities. Always an essential element in establishing a responsible mining operation, such relationships are even more important to navigate carefully when the land acquisition for a mine has, in its early stages, put an end to the unlawful

ECG Engineering delivers expertise feasibility studies and system audits, project support, the electrical needs Mining, Utilities Materials clients across the globe.

design,

Handling

All on track Endeavour Magazine | 21

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“The way I see it,” Caigen shared with us, “A mining company is only one part of a larger chain. From the Ministry of Mining and the Department of Commerce through to the local communities, our investors and our shareholders, we are only a part of this chain. So, we make sure that we are not only looking out for the interests of our shareholders. Of course, we definitely want to maximise the shareholders’ investment return, but we also make sure that we pay sufficient attention to other stakeholders - particularly the local communities.” This care and attention for the affected locals is both viewed in the shortterm and long-term: “Gold resources are not renewable. When the mineral is mined out, you’ve damaged the land, so what are you doing to do? So, we consider their interests as As well as clear communication, bonds of support have been built between Tietto and the local communities through employment: as is usually the case, a new mining project means many vacancies, and except in cases where particular qualifications are required, Tietto makes sure to hire the vast majority of its team locally. “We also have registers for the local people to express their interest in working with us, so when a vacancy comes up, they Trust has also been earnt through the process via which Tietto Minerals approached and completed the Land Acquisition stage of its project development. “ The land acquisition process we

“The local community has been very supportive because they see us doing mining in a legally informed manner. Every step that we take, we inform them first. This means they understand that we are not simply digging the gold and leaving nothing to them – they see that this is a properly run operation.”

This communication is key: for some locals, their land has been purchased by Tietto Minerals, and for others who maintain ownership and use of their land, it may be adjacent to or nearby to Tietto’s activities. In both cases, transparency and responsibility are key, and in contrast to the disorganised activities before, the people of Abujar are able to experience that Tietto provides all of these. The local community’s acceptance of Tietto is a testament to its success in delivering this, and it isn’t through accident, but the careful effort of a dedicated team. “It’s quite a big team working with the communities. In our CSR department, we have about a half dozen staff working on this area.”

activities of this many local artisanal miners. We asked Caigen about Tietto’s relationship with its mine’s local community, and his answers were extremely positive:

“If there are any damages or potential they are compensated.” This communication and compensation are paramount, but it is not simply a case of doing them, but doing them correctly and considerately: “Since 2014, every year, we have two or three community gatherings in which to discuss compensation. We approach these discussions with respect, as we do with the individual cases of compensation.” Caigen went on to explain that, say, if a tree was or may be damaged, the compensation required would be calculated “with respect to their local cultures as well as their economic value.” In other words, what it means to the people, both emotionally and symbolically, as well as its practical place in their way of life, is taken into account as much as monetary factors. This approach required an understanding of the local community and its culture, and is also – if done correctly – a far better way to earn trust from the people it is addressing and reaching out to. It shows respect and a willingness to listen which, in turn, inspires trust.

Tietto Minerals Figure 4: A Frame and Lime silos Figure 5: Crusher and reclaim chamber22 | Endeavour Magazine

It’s full steam ahead! If all this weren’t enough, Tietto is also already actively scouting its surrounding area for a second potential project.

“We are not really looking for someone to buy us, so it is natural to look for future projects. If a good opportunity comes, it would be good to seize it and reposition ourselves as a mine developer. From our experience of building this project from scratch within the company, we can hopefully repeat the process.”Withestablished experience in how to execute a full development project, and the resources in place to be able to swoop into action, Tietto is in the perfect position to expand its portfolio. In the meantime, however, this year is already an exciting time – one in which the fruits of its labours from the past eight years will finally come to bear. Like any company that knows how to keep moving forwards, it is already looking to future projects even as it prepares to reap these rewards, but it is those rewards themselves that will be exciting to see come in at the end of this year, bringing good news not only for Tietto and their investors, but also the local people employed and supported by the company and the continued outreach it has in place.

All on track Endeavour Magazine | 23

have just gone through was very well supervised by a specialised team. That entire process was finished a few weeks ago, in a very culturally sound way.” The way this process was navigated by Tietto was, Caigen believes, a first for the country of Cote d’Ivoire – when purchasing the land, the company set up a method that supported and enabled the area’s landowners in the management of the funds they would receive. Some of the funds, they would have immediate access to, another portion was available for withdrawal monthly over a period of 180 months, and the final portion would be made available to them once they presented a viable business plan of how they intended to earn money in the future - i.e., by starting a chicken farm. This process protected locals from immediately accessing and potentially wasting or losing their funds before they had a viable next step in place, and also empowered them in assisting them in thinking about how they would move onwards without their land and, eventually, without a potential job in mining.

As of July 2022, this project proudly remains LTI (lost time injury) free. The installation of the project’s SAG Mill has begun, and the tanks (six regular, and two carbon-in-leach tanks) are progressing well, as are structural mechanical piping activities. The concrete works of the build – quite literally the bulk of the heavy lifting – is 80% complete, and should be complete by the publication of this article.

DUG IN Chamber of Mines Ghana chevron-square-right ghanachamberofmines.org phone-square +233 302 76 0652 Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

As a crucial part of Ghana’s economy, the country’s mining industry is of great interest to many. The Ghana Chamber of Mines knows this and takes great care in navigating the heavy responsibility of guiding and protecting this industry sector.

Naturally, there are strict covenants as to the way the chamber presents itself in the marketplace and as such, it operates in accordance with the values that are expected from all members. Honesty, transparency, good governance, good corporate citizenship, commitment and unity are the pillars which support the chamber at its very core and when we start to think about how necessary the GCM actually is, these values become all the more laudable.

From then until now, the Chamber has operated as a voluntary private sector employers’ association, representing companies and organizations engaged in the minerals and mining industry in Ghana. Its activities, programmes and services are all funded by its member companies, thus providing a structure and streamlined way for these companies to reinvest in the country’s industry as a whole.

In a world where the mining industry is pushing to be greener, cleaner and more responsible, it is the GCM’s duty to direct the sector in this direction and advise accordingly, whilst at the same time supporting and protecting its members.

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Citing its underlying mission as being “to represent the mining industry in Ghana using the resources and capabilities of its members to deliver services that address members, government and community needs, in order to enhance development”, the Ghana Chamber of Mines has made incredible inroads into what could be seen as a competitive, noncooperative industry. It is a one-stop shop for the representation of collective interests of all reputable mineral exploration companies, in addition to those operations that produce and process mineral ores.

T

he Ghana Chamber of Mines (GCM) first arose as an offshoot of the West Africa Chamber of Mines, the first offices of which opened in 1903. When this initial organisation began, its goal was to protect and advance mining interests in the West African region for its shareholders – notably, the London mining companies whose directors made up its board. Since Ghana achieved its independence from the British Commonwealth in March 1957, so too did its mining interests break free of an Anglo-centric lilt and become, as they should always have been, Ghanian. Taking the name that it still bears today, the Ghana Chamber of Mines converted into a limited company, and in 1967, its offices moved to Accra, Ghana’s capital.

Chamber of Mines Ghana

E&P has a long history and unbeatable record in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), often simplistically seen as charity or philanthropy. E&P has expended hundreds of thousands of Ghana Cedis annually in Social and Environmental programs and disaster reliefs, in support of critical government health and educational programs both at the community and national levels.

ENGINEERS & COMPANYPLANNERSLTD

2014 - Dredging of the Adowa river following the Nkrumah Circle fire disaster in Accra.

E & P is a wholly Indigenous Ghana ian owned mining and construction contracting company headquartered in Accra, Ghana. Since its inception in 1997, E & P has successfully com pleted world class projects including road construction, mining projects, tailings dam construction, landfill site construction , leach pads con struction land reclamation amongst E&Pothers.has the capacity, experience and expertise to deliver on major hard rock mining projects. E& P has ex ecuted mining projects both in Ghana and Liberia.

E&P is currently engaged in hard rock contract mining for Gold Fields Gha na Limited ’s world class gold mine in Tarkwa, and Abosso Goldfields Limited in Damang, Ghana.

Between January 2010 and May 2014, E&P also undertook hard rock min ing for Golden Star (Wassa) Limited in TheGhana.most current addition to E&P’s business portfolio is an ultra-modern Cement Manufacturing plant located at Tema in the Greater Accra region known as Dzata Cement, with an an nual production capacity of 2.3 mil lion metric tons. The entire manage ment team and work force at the said cement plant is Ghanaian. Operations at the Cement Plant commenced in July 2021.

A COMPANYMININGGHANAIANVERY COMPANY BACKGROUND

2020 - COVID19 Ventilators donated to the University of Ghana Medical Centre for treatment of severe COVID cases at UGMC, Legon. Gt. Accra.

Below are pictures of some of the CSR activities of E&P

2022 - Disaster Relief donated to the people of Apiate following explosion - food-stuff, blankets, etc. - Apiate, Western region.

Mr. Ibrahim Mahama, CEO of Engineers & Planners Co. Ltd.

E&P HISTORY OF CSR

Aligning with none of the core values of the chamber and giving little consideration to workers’ rights or the continued economic stability of Ghana as a whole, illegal mining operations are a scourge on the otherwise immaculate landscape of the minerals exploration industry and need to be stamped out. Speaking about the influx of illegal activity, the Chamber commented that: “The country stands to lose heavily if the activities of the illegal miners are allowed to fester. There is a clear and present danger to our environment and to Ghana’s economy as illegal miners fight largeThe Ecological Transformation for Mining means optimised water management, waste valorisation and guaranteed operational performances. Veolia innovates to improve your acid mine drainage treatment and your overall water management. With Neolab Your Lab in a container, feasibility study and data collection is now available at your fingertips.

“Honestly, the country earns next to nothing from the activities of these illegal miners. Only a few unscrupulous individuals benefit from it. It is no secret that the Government loses significant amounts of fiscal revenue every year as a result of such illegal mining activities. Apart from projecting a bad image for the entire mining sector, the repercussions to the environment are ominous. If the activities of the illegal miners are not nipped

GHANA LTD Email: info.gh@veolia.com Website: www.veolia.com.gh scale mining companies for concessions the latter have obtained legally. This in itself breeds a sense of insecurity and fear among investors, which will cause a slowdown in investment in the country’s minerals sectors.” This in itself raises a very important question: how can Ghana continue to sell itself as a promising prospect for foreign investment, therefore strengthening the wider economy, if security can’t be guaranteed? It stands to reason that the legal operations should be given more support than ever before, which is why the GCM has been conversing and working closely with the Government, to encourage change:

The mining industry in Ghana makes up 5% of the country’s GDP and as such, requires thorough governance, protection and development. These are only possible through open and honest communication, the sharing of ideas and information and experienced representation, all of which are promoted and encouraged by the GCM. It’s also critical that workers’ rights are protected, as the need for reliable team members is only ever going to increase, though illegal miners invading the marketplace are continually threatening this.

Chamber of Mines Ghana 28 | Endeavour Magazine

Dug in THE ZEN ADVANTAGE We are at the forefront of clean fuel We champion the use of uncontaminated fuel for business growth. We create and deliver value for people and in our communities We are professional, dedicated and responsible corporate citizens. We invest in the safest storage facilities All infrastructure used in our supply chain is of industry grade. We are results-driven and focused We are committed to zero losses and zero accidents. Endeavour Magazine | 29

A two-pronged attack seems to be the order of the day, with the GCM protecting the rights of stand-up operations and supporting them wherever possible, with regular newsletters, conferences and educational content and the Government being called on to install military protection at legal mining sites. By working cooperatively, the unsavoury element that has been steadily creeping into the Ghana mining industry can be effectively dealt with, without any of the specialist focus points being overlooked, such as health and safety.

Demonstrating a natural gift for protecting the rights of legal miners, as well as their wellbeing, issues pertinent to safe operation are highlighted through annual health and safety competitions, as well as strategic communications. This really does give a rounded impression of how hard every

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30 | Endeavour Magazine

in the bud it would undermine Ghana’s efforts at attracting and sustaining the much-needed investment into the mining industry.”

an

Chamber of Mines Ghana NEXT GENERATION WATER TREATMENT +27 11 656 3936 info@miwatek.co.za www.miwatekwater.com

company. We

It’s no secret that education leads to development, innovation and communication, but it’s still relatively rare to discover an association that is as intrinsically committed to these endeavours as the GCM is. By stamping out illegal mining, lifting those that operate within the law and for the benefit of Ghana as a whole and seeking to invest in the local economy, the GCM is leading the charge in terms of industry support systems and maybe it’s time for others to dig a little deeper and find a similar amount of resolve and resilience.

water

you

A AmericanFUTURESMARTERUniversityofBeirut chevron-square-right www.aub.edu.lb Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

So where does this university come from? Why is there an American-style university teaching majoritively in English in the middle of Beirut? Its story began in 1862, when a group of missionaries from the country that were situated in Lebanon saw the need to set up a centre for medical training. This mission was headed up by Dr Daniel Bliss, who spent the next four years raising funds for the project. The first two of these four years were spent in the United States, where the doctor managed to raise an impressive $100,000. However, the Civil War in the United States at the time meant that the country was undergoing a time of inflation. It was suggested that he travel to the UK to gather some more stable funds for short-term use, so he went to England and gathered a further £4000. This achieved, he returned to Beirut in March 1866. It was decided that this project should be kept separate from the group’s missionary work, taking out aspects of religion as well as setting the university up to be separately funded. Its first classes took place at the end of 1866, with a humble beginning of 16 students in one class. From there, it grew to the thousands-strong student body it provides for today. As for the history of the buildings themselves, the first was the aptly named College Hall, which was completed in 1871. Following Bliss’ aim, the building

With over 8000 students and a history that stretches back to 1866, the American University of Beirut is an Americanrun university based in Lebanon that offers a rich range of education. As it says of itself, the University “encourages freedom of thought and expression and seeks to graduate people committed to creative and critical thinking, lifelong learning, personal integrity, civic responsibility, and leadership.” We took a closer look at what the university offers, and the history of how the institute first came to be.

American University of Beirut

The American University of Beirut (AUB) focuses on the American liberal arts model of higher education. It is a teaching-centered research university with a faculty of around 800: that’s about one faculty member for every ten students. (In fact, if you want the exact statistic, AUB calculates that it’s one for every 11.2). Today, the university offers 130 different courses that lead to either a Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree or MD or PhD, as well as offering 36 different certificates and diplomas. Its education is accredited in the US by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and covers a broad spectrum, supporting six varied faculties: Arts and Sciences; Medicine and the Rafic Hariri School of Nursing; the Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture; Agricultural and Food Sciences; Health Sciences; and the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business. With the exception of the Arabic Department and any language classes, the majority of classes are taught in English.

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A smarter future was designed for medical education, and this focus remained as departments were expanded. A hospital opened in 1905, and a school for nursing was established alongside it. A school for dentistry followed in 1910, and College Hall itself was rebuilt in the 1990s following an explosion that destroyed the original! However, it was not only medical subjects that the campus and faculties expanded for. In 1900, it established a school of commerce, which was later incorporated into the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Building upon the medical focus, but it was in the ‘50s that the range of education really The Faculty of Engineering and Architecture was established in 1951; the Faculty of Agriculture in 1952; and the School of Public Health - now the Faculty of Health Sciences - in 1954. Finally, in 2000, the university established an independent school of business (later named the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business).

Endeavour Magazine | 35

Bliss’ mission had certainly come together! When College Hall’s doors were opened, Dr Bliss made this speech: “This college is for all conditions and classes of men without regard to colour, nationality, race or religion.” Whilst it started out as a male-only college, it opened its doors to female students in 1922 and now enjoys an even split between its students who choose to identify with a binary gender. Today, as well as these six faculties, the college has a number of centres through which it works towards important causes such as conservation of the environment and outreach to the local community. The Center for Civic Engagement and Community Services focuses on the latter, with an “overarching mission to integrate developmental planning aimed at empowering marginalized communities with experiential learning for leadership development and transformative education,” in its own words. This outreach was made critical by the destruction caused by the war in Lebanon in 2006, which prompted large-scale volunteer efforts from the students and faculty at AUB. This swell is what led to the Civic Engagement and Community Services being founded, and it now works to stay informed on local needs and to respond accordingly. In recognition of these efforts, the University has received a number of awards for its community work between 2015-2018, including the Ma’an Alliance award for the Most Civically Engaged University Campus in the Middle East and North Africa region and the 2018 award of the Fritz Redlich Human Rights Award from Harvard University.Asforits Nature Conservation Center, this centre seeks to “promote the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and enable people to become the guardians and beneficiaries of their own natural heritage through research, education, community development, and knowledge dissemination.”

This centre is one of the leading names among transdisciplinary academic centres addressing nature conservation in the MENA region. With a full university at its disposal, the centre is able to call on building-wide expertise from many faculty areas in order to pool talent towards its

American University of Beirut 36 | Endeavour Magazine

Given this university’s origins as a project motivated by outreach and aid, the fact that these centres for outreach exist is a wonderful sense of a legacy continued. They work towards the betterment of the area around them, both for the people and for the environment. On top of this, of course, the medical training that motivated this university continues on and remains strong. All in all, Dr Bliss’ mission was a clear success, and the lives this university has changed, both for its students and those impacted by them, are innumerable and will keep on rising.

A smarter future

With more than sixty years of expertise on the Lebanese market and eight years on the west African coast, Intermedic is still on the forefront of healthcare service in these regions and wherever needed. Intermedic team is renowned in the market for the delivery of high-quality products and services with all the required maintenance, training and education.

www.intermedic.com | Email: med@intermedic.com.lb | Tel: 961 1 621000 cause, and the same is true for the Centire for Civic Engagement and Community Services.

Endeavour Magazine | 37

URBAN,KeppelMARINEGREEN,Corporation chevron-square-right www.kepcorp.com phone-square 65 6270 6666 Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

It was not long after its foundation that Keppel Corporation began grow. In the early 1970s, it expanded into offshoring rigging and acquiring Far East Shipbuilding Industries Limited (FESL), followed by Singmarine Shipyard, and in 1975, it first spread its reach beyond Singapore by establishing the Keppel Philippines Shipyard in Batangas. In 1980, it was listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, and through that decade, it continued to expand despite challenges that occurred in the shipping industries at the time. Then, in the 1990s, the company made the extremely ‘1990s’ move of entering the banking and finance services, and later that decade, in telecommunications. By the time we entered the new millennium, its operations were wide-spread, for better and for worse. Responding to such, the corporation re-organised itself, streamlining its

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Keppel Corporation

As Keppel states, and no-one is likely to argue against, “energy is critical for urban development and growth.” Without reliable access to power, an area can only develop so far, and yet, addressing this need in a sustainable manner is equally critical, if we’re to look after our planet at the same time as developing in an urban direction. The two have been seen as at odds with each other, yet the industrial sectors are finally focusing on creating a harmony between them: we took a look at Keppel Corporation, the Singaporean energy company, to see how it is addressing these dual needs.

“We provide solutions for sustainable urbanisation,” Keppel claims, “focusing on four key areas: energy & environment, urban development, connectivity and asset management. With sustainability at the core of our strategy, we harness the strengths and expertise of our business units to develop, operate and maintain real assets, which provide diverse solutions that are good for the planet, for people and for the Company.” These are commendable aims, but how does Keppel tackle achieving them? These four areas are all key, but we focused on the energy itself. After all, as Keppel said, it is a critical part, and where all the rest begins.

First, though, we took a look backwards, and where Keppel’s story began. “At Keppel,” the company shares, “We are shaping a brighter better future, driven by a common purpose to provide solutions for sustainable urbanisation as one integrated business.” These are fantastic ideals and an ambitious mission, but when it all began, Keppel’s dreams were nowhere near this scale. Rather, created by the Port of Singapore Authority in 1968, it was simply a small ship repair yard, with no call to purpose besides precisely that. Whilst the company itself has changed greatly, it has kept the same name since this time – a name derived not from a founder, but from Captain Henry Keppel (1809 - 1904), a British ship captain who discovered the natural ater harbour at Tanjong Pagar – today known as Keppel Bay.

Magazine | 41

Leveraging our core competencies and technical know-how, we offer an integrated suite of services covering newbuilding, module fabrication, green recycling, repairs and conversion of conventional and renewable energy assets.Endeavour

PaxOcean Pertama Batam Yard PaxOcean Graha Batam Yard PaxOcean Tuas Singapore YardPaxOcean Zhoushan China Yard PaxOcean Nanindah Batam Yard BUILDING SUSTAINABLE MARITIME SOLUTIONS No. 1, Kim Seng Promenade #06-02, Singapore 237994 marketing@paxocean.com www.paxocean.com Urban, green, marine activities into four main divisions: Offshore & Marine, Property, Infrastructure and Investments. It wasn’t until more recently that its current mission came into focus. It was 2015 when Keppel’s first moves on the sustainability warpath were taken, embarking on what it now calls its “bold mission”. With a multi-business strategy in place, it would need a multi-pronged approach to bring these various areas into a sustainable space. In part, then the early steps included the simplifying of the Group’s structure, allowing for easier communication and collaboration across business verticals, in doing so reducing both wasted time and effort, and also reducing waste. This process continued through 2015-2019, with some subsidiaries privatised and others reformed and incorporated into other entities in the Group. But with all this in place, what of its energy activities? Make no mistake – whilst it is pushing forwards on the green front, oil and gas is still a part of its portfolio. In fact, Pelle is one of the world’s leading providers of offshore services for the oil and gas sector. Through repair shipyards, construction PaxOcean owns and operates 5 shipyards located in Singapore, China and Indonesia.

The Group provides end-to-end engineering services supporting the complete life cycle of maritime and offshore assets.

capabilities and design services, the company may not be drilling oil and gas, but it is actively involved in fortifying this industry. However, inefficient ships make for dirtier operations – efficiently, cleanly repaired vessels are far better to have out there than the alternative, and Keppel are working to make sure that’s the case.

A division of Keppel Offshore & Marine, this push is headed by Keppel Renewable Energy. With much transferable knowledge from its oil and gas and shipyard repair origins, the Group is involved in the infrastructure that supports renewable energy efforts, both solar and wind power. Certain designs in this area of expertise have put the company well and truly on the sector’s map: the KFELS B Class jackup rig design, for example, earned Keppel the statue of being the world’s largest builder of such rigs. Since its launch in 2000, the company have delivered 60 such rigs, including for the renewable sector.

Fascinatingly, the company is also turning its offshore knowledge towards new purposes, such as floating data centres, floating desalination plants and offshore substations for wind farms.

Many of its skills in offshore and ship work were transferable from fossil fuel energy to renewable, but in other regards, Keppel’s KRE division has needed to learn all-new expertise, such as photovoltaic plant design or wind farm micro siting. When it comes to project management, material procurement and heavy marine construction, however, it has a long history of certainty behind it.

It is, however, their renewable energy efforts that the company is most proud of. “At Keppel, we support the safe and efficient harvesting of energy sources to power ships and cities alike.” The world is shifting in this direction, and Keppel is moving eagerly with it. “With growing global focus on energy security and climate change mitigation, we are pursuing opportunities in renewables to augment our range of competitive energy solutions.”

Keppel Offshore & Marine has also designed and developed a series of drilling rigs to cope with harsher, deeper and higher-pressure environments, such as the DSSTM semisubmersible, which it has delivered 25 of since the new millennium.

Keppel is not just ambling in the green energy direction, but pushing itself that way. By the end of 2025, Keppel aims to have 3GW of renewable energy installed, as a part of its longer-term aim of 7GW by 2030. To achieve this, it is looking primary at utilityscale wind projects, as well as commercial and industrial solar, with installed capacities of above 50 megawatts. Sensibly, as a company well-versed in all things aqua, it is also looking into the possibility of becoming involved with run-of-river hydroelectric projects.

Keppel Corporation 42 | Endeavour Magazine

“Developed in-house, this popular rig design is known in the industry for its reliability and superior performance. Through R&D, innovation and technology, we are developing rigs of the future utilising ‘digital twins’ to optimise performance; building smarter rigs using sensing technology; and leveraging drones to provide mission-critical aftermarket services and preventive maintenance.”

“We will do our part to combat climate change,” says Keppel, “And are committed to resource efficiency and reducing our environmental impact. We will avoid highly pollutive businesses such as coal-fired plants, and will emphasize renewables and cleaner energy such as gas, and channel our engineering capabilities as a solutions provider to contribute to the fight against climate change. We have set targets to reduce waste, water and carbon emissions intensity, and to invest in renewable energyThey’regeneration.”powerful aims, and it’s heartening to see companies rooted in the energy sectors taking this view and forming these targets. Let’s hope that Keppel continues as it is setting out, and that many other-such companies are inspired to follow in its footsteps.

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PIPELINESHEALTHYDavis&Shirtliff chevron-square-right www.davisandshirtliff.com phone-square 254 020 6968 000 Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

F

In a region as hot as East Africa, water related equipment is a key sector. From piping to drinking water to pools, Davis & Shirtliff has you covered through the provision of its pumps, tanks, and just about anything else water related. After 70+ years in the industry, the company has shown an ability to be tenacious, proving that it has the adaptability to have sticking power. From a small company to a large-reaching Group, we took a look at Davis & Shirtliff’s history, and what has brought the Group to the point it’s at today.

Davis & Shirtliff 46 | Endeavour Magazine

ollowing the end of World War II, in a hopeful new era of rebuilding stability, army veteran Eddie Davis purchased a small, independent local plumbing and water engineering firm in Nairobi. With this, in partnership with his friend Dick Shirtliff, the pair founded their company. Originally called RH Paige & Co, it isn’t hard to see where the company got its eventual name from! From this small start, a wide-ranging Group developed, expanding outwards as the world gradually recovered from the impact of the years that had passed. Today, far from this small, grassroots firm, the Davis & Shirtliff Group owns a network of 70 branches in eight countries within the East Africa region: naturally, it still holds its presence in Kenya, but has expanded to also have a presence in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the DRC. On top of this, the Group also exports to many other regional countries including Malawi, Somalia, Somaliland, Zimbabwe and even several countries in West Africa. This growth has not been through acquisition. Instead, it has been gradual and organic, though

Professional Power Manufacturer

Email:www.zhicheng-champion.comchampion-aliao@hotmail.com

this gradual’ process leapt forwards significantly in the late 1970s, by which time the number of pumps the company sold had increased 100-fold. This continuous growth has been a combination of the Group’s own successes, and also the growing economy within this region and the countries Davis & Shirtliff serves. But what do they supply? This Group covers the gear you need for water and energy solutions – particularly the water solutions. This includes water pumps, boreholes, water treatment products and services, swimming pools, generators, solar equipment and irrigation – quite the list! Not only is this an impressive range, but it is a range that addresses any important needs within East Africa. Cleaner power, more readily available water and strong farming are all important elements for the hot region. The Group serves a wide customer base of private sector, NGO and government institutions across all industries and sectors, all of whom

Healthy pipelines Endeavour Magazine | 47

depend on the company for their essential water supplies. It is no surprise then, that early operations for the company largely involved work with the agricultural sector and local water supplies. These areas had a growing demand at the time and are still key elements now. From here, the company moved on to expand into water pump supply, and this has remained a key area of the Group’s operations ever since. To this day, the company and Group offers a wide range of pumps for all applications, including those suitable for drinking water through to swimming pools.

One of their earliest and still most important activities is the supply of a wide range of borehole equipment. In this area, the Group is the leading supplier in the region, boreholes being one of East Africa’s most important sources of water, explained, “there isn’t much surface water and there isn’t much rain, but there is ground water, and our equipment is used in many thousands of sites that capitalizes on this important resource”.

However, these products are not the entirety of the Group’s activities. As a part of its journey of growth, the Group further expanded their business by branching out into water treatment. This is now a major activity that continues to be a focus for the team, with a move taking place to look into hightech water treatment techniques such as ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis.

Davis & Shirtliff 48 | Endeavour Magazine

Some of these pumps are the Group’s own, sold under the ‘Dayliff’ brand, whilst others are supplied by one of two major names, both of whom the Group has a long-standing relationship with. The first is Grundfos, one of the world’s largest pump industry players, and who Davis & Shirtliff have been supplied by for over 50 years. The second is Pedrollo, an Italian manufacturer of quality domestic and commercial pumps, with whom the Group has delt for 25 years.

Another, in fact possibly one of the most important technological advances for Davis & Shirtliff, has been its move into solar

a business of Cassava Technologies

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Africa’s digital future

Welcome to Liquid Intelligent Technologies

www liquid.tech AFRICA’S DIGITAL FUTURE

BUSINESS | CLOUD | CYBER SECURITY | HOME | LABS | NETWORKS | SATELLITE | SEA www liquid.tech AFRICA’S DIGITAL FUTURE

Africa’s digital future

Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a business of Cassava Technologies, is a pan-African technology group that has established itself as the continent’s leading digital infrastructure provider. Through our partnerships with leading global players, we are redefining Network, Cloud, and Cyber Security offering in Africa. Liquid is a full one-stop shop providing tailor-made digital solutions to businesses in the public and private sectors across the continent.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a business of Cassava Technologies, is a pan-African technology group that has established itself as the continent’s leading digital infrastructure provider. Through our partnerships with leading global players, we are redefining Network, Cloud, and Cyber Security offering in Africa. Liquid is a full one-stop shop providing tailor-made digital solutions to businesses in the public and private sectors across the continent.

technology, specifically to power solutions in water heating, power generation and solar pumping. These technologies have been widely applied, including hundreds of solar pump installations in remote arid sites performed for organisations such as UNICEF, World Vision, Kenya Red Cross and the Ministries of Water, in countries including Uganda, Somalia, Ethiopia and the DRC. As one can imagine, technology like this both transforms and saves lives. This new technology provides reliable water supplies in areas that were previously unable to access the power to support such infrastructure, and it is this sort of innovation that continues to place Davis & Shirtliff at the front of the industry in their region.

Global Water Solutions’ broad product offering and innovative product development has secured a place in the market as the most comprehensive supplier of pressure tanks and water treatment products.

the movement and processing of water. Manufactured from

tested products with extensive warranties. To find out more about our company and products visit our website at www.globalwatersolutions.com Global Water Solutions Africa (Pty) Ltd www.globalwatersolutions.com +27 011 918-9501 Find us on Facebook @globalwatersolutionsafrica Pressure tanks and water treatment solutionsQuatreauTouch™ • Delivers instant boiling, sparkling and chilled water • Easy-to-use, illuminated buttons with built-in safety feature • Stylish, compact design dispenses high volumes of water with low energy consumption • Stand alone system, ideal for drink or food prep areas in the kitchen, restaurant, lounge or o ce Purefer™ Jumbo Housing Water Filtration System • Rust-free aluminium bracket • High flow and low pressure drop • Large capacity filters for longer filter change-out intervals • Whole house filtration system suitable for well water, rainwater harvesting and municipal backup • Other sizes and configurations available Pressure Vessels Range Steel Tanks: • Diaphragm type – 2 litres to 450 litres: • Available in 10 bar Limited sizes to handle larger pressure ratings: • 2 to 100 litres available in 16 bar • 8, 24 and 100 litres available in 25 bar Conventional Bladder Type – 500 to 10,000 litres: • Available in 10, 16 and 25 bar Composite: • Diaphragm tank - 60 to 450 litres • Available in 8.6 bar Benefits of a GWS Diaphragm tank: • Maintenance-free • 5-year warranty 50 | Endeavour Magazine

Another innovation has been the in-house development of a series of Apps, including the free to download D&S FLO, which details all Davis & Shirtliff products with their specifications and performance. Adding to this line-up, the Group is frequently approached by various suppliers with new products and ideas. These products are rigorously reviewed by a Product Committee that selects and introduces those with potential and keeps a regular flow of new product initiatives.

Our core values include providing long-term benefits and taking care of the environment while remaining socially conscious when partnering with all communities we serve. The creation of adaptable, affordable solutions which meet the increasing need for safe and abundant drinking water enables us to focus on providing cutting-edge technologies for high-quality all rigorously

our

materials, we bring you value, and reliability on

Davis &

It has been over 70 years since Davis & Shirtliff went into operation, and in that time, a simple one-location operation in Kenya has ground into something vast. Not only this, but the Group has grown from being simply ‘one of the crowd’ to a known go-to for technology knowledge, standing out from its peers in its understanding of the equipment it supplies, both traditional and more cutting-edge.

Water and energy are two essential resources in any country or area, and this is certainly true for East Africa. Therefore, the field this Group works in will always be an important one, and one it contributes to with excellence, experience and expertise. Shirtliff

Global Water Solutions Africa (Pty) Ltd www.globalwatersolutions.com +27 011 918-9501 Find us on Facebook @globalwatersolutionsafrica Pressure tanks and water treatment solutions • Delivers instant boiling, sparkling and chilled water • Easy-to-use, illuminated buttons with built-in safety feature • Stylish, compact design dispenses high volumes of water with low energy consumption • Stand alone system, ideal for drink or food prep areas in the kitchen, restaurant, lounge or o ce Purefer™ Jumbo Housing Water Filtration System • Rust-free aluminium bracket • High flow and low pressure drop • Large capacity filters for longer filter change-out intervals • Whole house filtration system suitable for well water, rainwater harvesting and municipal backup • Other sizes and configurations available Pressure Vessels Range Steel Tanks: • Diaphragm type – 2 litres to 450 litres: • Available in 10 bar Limited sizes to handle larger pressure ratings: • 2 to 100 litres available in 16 bar • 8, 24 and 100 litres available in 25 bar Conventional Bladder Type – 500 to 10,000 litres: • Available in 10, 16 and 25 bar Composite: • Diaphragm tank - 60 to 450 litres • Available in 8.6 bar Benefits of a GWS Diaphragm tank: • Maintenance-free • 5-year warranty Global Water Solutions Africa (Pty) Ltd www.globalwatersolutions.com +27 011 918-9501 Find us on Facebook @globalwatersolutionsafrica Pressure tanks and water treatment solutionsQuatreauTouch • Delivers instant boiling, sparkling and chilled water • Easy-to-use, illuminated buttons with built-in safety feature • Stylish, compact design dispenses high volumes of water with low energy consumption • Stand alone system, ideal for drink or food prep areas in the kitchen, restaurant, lounge or o ce Purefer™ Jumbo Housing Water Filtration System • Rust-free aluminium bracket • High flow and low pressure drop • Large capacity filters for longer filter change-out intervals • Whole house filtration system suitable for well water, rainwater harvesting and municipal backup • Other sizes and configurations available Pressure Vessels Range Steel Tanks: • Diaphragm type – 2 litres to 450 litres: • Available in 10 bar Limited sizes to handle larger pressure ratings: • 2 to 100 litres available in 16 bar • 8, 24 and 100 litres available in 25 bar Conventional Bladder Type – 500 to 10,000 litres: • Available in 10, 16 and 25 bar Composite: • Diaphragm tank - 60 to 450 litres • Available in 8.6 bar Benefits of a GWS Diaphragm tank: • Maintenance-free • 5-year warranty Global Water Solutions Africa (Pty) Ltd www.globalwatersolutions.com +27 011 918-9501 Find us on Facebook @globalwatersolutionsafrica Pressure tanks and water treatment solutionsQuatreauTouch™ • Delivers instant boiling, sparkling and chilled water • Easy-to-use, illuminated buttons with built-in safety feature • Stylish, compact design dispenses high volumes of water with low energy consumption • Stand alone system, ideal for drink or food prep areas in the kitchen, restaurant, lounge or o ce Purefer™ Jumbo Housing Water Filtration System • Rust-free aluminium bracket • High flow and low pressure drop • Large capacity filters for longer filter change-out intervals • Whole house filtration system suitable for well water, rainwater harvesting and municipal backup • Other sizes and configurations available Pressure Vessels Range Steel Tanks: • Diaphragm type – 2 litres to 450 litres: • Available in 10 bar Limited sizes to handle larger pressure ratings: • 2 to 100 litres available in 16 bar • 8, 24 and 100 litres available in 25 bar Conventional Bladder Type – 500 to 10,000 litres: • Available in 10, 16 and 25 bar Composite: • Diaphragm tank - 60 to 450 litres • Available in 8.6 bar Benefits of a GWS Diaphragm tank: • Maintenance-free • 5-year warranty

Amazing World

RE-WILD BISONW

Another prominent animal in many pre-historic cave paintings is the bison. These huge, hairy bovines were a crucial beast for hunter-gatherer societies and once would have roamed across the European continent. But the changing climate, excessive hunting and the desire for meat and furs proved too much for these animals, and on the island that is now known as the UK, wild bison disappeared some 12,000 years ago.

hen you look at some of the oldest known pieces of art, you can see that the world has changed drastically. These images, mainly in the form of cave-art, depict long extinct animals such as woolly rhinoceroses, woolly mammoths, cave lions and cave hyenas.

Written by James Lapping

Homecomings can be emotional moments, but seldom do they happen after thousands of years. But lo and behold, the long-awaited return of bison to the wild in the UK happened earlier this month.

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Technically, the European Bison that is being released in the United Kingdom was never native to the island, but they are an incredibly similar relative. These last wild bison to roam across the UK were known as Woodland Bison, or by their scientific name, Bison schoetensacki. When they went extinct in the UK, it was what’s known as the Pleistocene period, better known as the Ice Age.

The European Bison is also similar yet different to its cousin, the American Bison - better known as the buffalo. The European Bison is taller and has less fur. When they were still originally wild and in their prime thousands of years ago, they roamed the entire continent, as far south as the Caucasus Mountains in what is known today as Georgia, and as far east as the Volga River, in what is now known as Russia. The European Bison had been threatened for the last few hundred years and then went extinct in the wild in Europe in 1927. WW1 played a big role in their dwindling numbers, as many hungry soldiers on the continent hunted them for their meat.

Approximately 50 remained in zoos and captivity. However, they were quickly reintroduced into Białowieża Forest, Poland in 1952. And now finally, the first truly wild bison for 12,000 years in the UK have been released into Blean Woods in Kent, just north of the city of Canterbury. So why, after so long, has it been decided that we need these ancient beasts back in our wildlife? It has been known for some time that various factors, including climate, loss of habitat and introduction of invasive species is having a detrimental effect on nature, like a domino-effect. The response is rewilding – the concept of creating biodiversity by reintroducing creatures that are beneficial to the ecosystem. The bison are known as ‘ecosystem engineers’ due to their habits in the wild. Through natural behavior such as grazing, dust bathing, eating

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The Blean Woods in which they have been released was previously damaged due to being used for the logging industry. People have since attempted to turn it back into a natural function woodland, but the wild bison will now do this naturally and more efficiently, allowing conservationists to can take a more hands-off approach. Other animals that will be joining the bison in healing the ecosystem of the Blean Woods include Exmoor ponies (nearly extinct in WW2), Iron-Age pigs (a hybrid created in the 1980s to resemble the ancient Iron-Age pig), and longhorn cattle (which struggled for numbers in the 19th Century). With time even more introductions may create a plethora of reintroduced wild animals in the Kent countryside and throughout the UK. Shortly after their extinction in the wild and before they were successfully integrated back into Polish wildlife, a German Zoologist and Nazi Pary member Lutz Heck, with the help of Hermann Göring, planned to breed out European bison with American bison to replenish the wild so that they could create game reserves for hunting. Naturally, these cynical efforts to re-wild bison for hunting were thwarted by the outcome of WW2. It was only seven years after the war that the European Bison were re-released into the wild by conservationists in Poland, without the need of breeding them out with their American cousins.

bark and felling trees (non-native conifers from the logging industry will be knocked down and eventually replaced by native trees such as holly, oak, and silver birch), they are doing a natural form of woodland management which will in turn stimulate the growth of new plants and allow other species the opportunity to thrive.

As of 2019, there are now over 7,500 European Bison across the continent in the wild, up from 6,500 in 2016. This upward trajectory suggests that there may soon enough be close to 10,000 in the wild, and successful conservation efforts mean

Currently, only three female bison have been released into the Kent countryside. It is still believed that this small herd will have a profound effect on their new home. A male bison will soon join the pack too, and then efforts can be made to breed them out.

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the only re-wilding attempt in the UK, and in recent years, wild boars and beavers are also being reintroduced to the UK as well as more ferocious beasts such as bears, wolves, wolverines, and lynx. Currently the bison of Blean are safely fenced off, but it may get to a point that people will be able to walk freely through bison in the wild, as it has been done at the Kraansvlak project in Holland, where the public can safely walk amongst the wild bison without the fear of a dangerous incident. It is highly unlikely that this will be the case for the UK’s bears and wolves, though!

that this number will only increase. The majority of these wild bison are located in Poland and Belarus, but with time, the UK too will hopefully have an abundant amount roaming free in woodland across theThiscountry.isn’t

The return of wild bison, amongst many other previously extinct animals, shows progress in the attitudes towards conservation and is the best hope for regaining the biodiversity required for the sensitive self-sustaining ecosystem which is our planet. It seems that stepping back into the past is the key to the future on Planet Earth.

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PANNING FOR ATLANTIC GOLD Anaconda Mining chevron-square-right www.signalgold.com phone-square +416 304-6622 Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

Located in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, Canada, Anaconda Mining tackles both exploration and development, looking to find sites of potential in the country’s east coast and turn them into the functional mine they could be. Focusing primarily on gold, and most notably, on sites with lower gold yields than investors typically shoot for, the company has several project sites that it is currently involved in: we took a look at these sites and at the company’s progress.

I

Anaconda Mining

Therefore, the company has taken the bold strategy of focusing its attention on acquiring these sub-one million-ounce deposits. The current projects in its portfolio are primarily the Point Rousse Project in the Baie Verte Mining District, Newfoundland, and the Goldboro Project in Nova Scotia. We took a look at each one: The Point Rousse Project is made up of the Pine Cove open pit mine, the fully permitted Pine Cove Mill and tailings facility, the Stog’er Tight deposit, and a new mineral deposit discovery called Argyle. On top of these, it also includes around 5,800 hectares of prospective land that should also hold gold. The Goldboro Project is a more recent acquisition for the company; economically, this high-grade mineral resource could, once it is developed, make use of some of the existing infrastructure at Point Rousse. As well as these two focal points, Anaconda also has a pipeline of potential growth opportunities, including the Viking and Great Northern Projects on the Northern Peninsula, and the Tilt Cove Property on the Baie Verte Peninsula.

n Atlantic Canada – the country’s east coast region - gold mining projects and deposits generally appear small in scale compared to other parts of North America. This means they are often overlooked: an exploration company is looking for that five-million-ounce deposit, and any project with under a million tends to be passed over or sold at a lower rate. Yet, where other companies do not see potential, Anaconda Mining is seeking to collect up and fruitful projects that investors show less interest in. Atlantic Canada is rich with these small-scale deposits, with few people competing for them, and this is where Anaconda Mining sweeps in. Whilst they seem small individually, when combined, the results of these sites could be mighty – especially when there may be more there than originally thought. “These deposits have the potential to garner reasonable returns on investment,” the company claims, “And just have been overlooked because of a market perception.” This perception makes investors reluctant to pick up these projects, and Anaconda feels that due to this, the full yield of these deposits goes undiscovered.

Anaconda plans to acquire more projects and to develop them to production levels of 30,000 -

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50,000 ounces annually each. However, despite the size of the projects it is acquiring, Anaconda’s longterm focus is on high-grade, low-tonnage deposits rather than low-grade bulk mining. Amongst the projects it acquires, the company hope to find higher-grade deposits ranging from 4 to 7 grams per tonne, depending on the mining and processing rates.

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Anaconda knows the area, the industry and the processes, and it has the resources in place. On top of all this, the company also cites two more areas as its key strengths: a skilled workforce, and advanced technology and innovation. As the company itself states, “The greatest asset that Anaconda has is its people. Success begins and ends with people.” The company has a strong commitment to employee education, offering both formal and informal mentoring programs to its staff, as well as sending them to both external and in-house training, furthering their staff’s skills and allowing them to acquire trade certifications. It isn’t stopping there, either; the company is turning its dedication to staff training towards a major internal development – the Anaconda University. This training system will teach all the skills and disciplines needed to work within mining, from technical subjects to management, safety and financial skills.

“These courses will be taught from both a wider industry perspective and, more specifically, from the angle of Anaconda’s structure, systems and approach.

Anaconda

“There are approximately 16 projects and greater than 11 million ounces of gold in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. With numerous companies controlling these projects, Atlantic Canada’s gold assets are ripe for consolidation. Many of these projects have NI 43-101 mineral resources but no adequate financial and human resources to advance them. They need a catalyst to renew interest in these projects and being acquired by Anaconda could be such a catalyst.”

“The vision for AU is to fully engage and develop employees while aligning their learning to the strategic objectives of the company. It will be a platform to support innovation and the development of new ideas, provide motivation to the workforce, and retain and attract high-quality talent.”

&

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R D plays a major part in all of after all, if you are going to pick out the path less trodden, you need technology optimised for the challenges of the task. The company has initiated and invested in several research and development projects in conjunction with Memorial University, the College of the North Atlantic and the Canadian government, all relating to mining, mineral processing and exploration. These projects aren’t small; the largest to date was a $3.5 million initiative to commercialise a technology that allows companies to economically mine single, narrow mineralised underground veins. This sort of development is the kind that frequently interests Anaconda; mining smaller or more delicate deposits in a profitable manner ties hand in hand with their portfolio and business plan. This technology is being developed by Memorial University and receives partial funding from ACOA and RDC. The company also uses modern innovations such as GPS on shovels and blast movement monitoring to increase the productivity of its mining operations. The company has also

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Panning for Atlantic gold monetised the Pine Cove pit waste rock as a construction aggregates product. It all adds up! Anaconda’s strategy might be a gamble, but it has plenty of reasons to be confident. The company’s experience, infrastructure, welltrained staff and investments into new technologies all place it in a strong position moving forwards: it will be interesting to see how the company’s strategy plays out, and if they’re on to something, it could lead to a shift in attitude towards one-million-ounce deposits. Of course, that underestimation is all part of the opportunity that Anaconda has seized; this is a trend that you want to be at the front of, if you’re to ride it at all. One company’s trash is another one’s treasure, and if this strategy pays off, Anaconda could have created a unique road to success.

this:

MUCH TO OFFER Motisun Group chevron-square-right motisungroup.com phone-square +255 22 213 9158 Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

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To take a closer look at Motisun’s operations, we focused in on the hospitality arm. In order to enjoy expansion, there must have been a lot of happy guests walking through the doors of the various hotels already owned: “Having over two decades of experience in the hospitality industry, we aim to lead and provide a true and rich experience to the most discerning travellers in East Africa through our various brands of Hotels, Resorts and Service Suites. With four Hotels, Resorts and Service Suites in Tanzania and Zanzibar and upcoming hotels projects in the world famous ‘Ngorongoro’ conservation area and the bustling coastal city of Mtwara, Pearlsun Hotels is spreading its operation across East Africa.”

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As the management team adds; “The Motisun Group places high importance on long-term focus and its commitment to deliver to end customers at the grassroots level. It is driven by professionals with a high work ethic and the success of the Motisun Group, as a business conglomerate, is in no small part thanks to its vision, mission and values, all of which bind the employees together and gives them a direction towards which they channel their daily efforts. Quality, service and value is the bedrock on which the Group seeks to build its future.”

With operations this wide-spread, one would expect the Motisun Group to have a long history that stretches back through the decades, but in reality, it began life n 1994. The seed was MMI Steel Mills, an independent company with one induction furnace and a rolling mill. The company was founded by the now late Subhash Patel, who wanted to see his mill grow to a production of 200,000 MT steel per annum. Through ambitious acquisition and growth, building up the company’s facilities and technology, this goal was met and then exceeded. Today, this manufacturing side not only produces steel, but also roofing products, cement, plastic tanks, pipes and paints. These facilities are found across Africa in all directions, located in Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia and Uganda.

n top of this manufacturing element, where the Group got its beginning, Motisun now tackles the many other sectors listed. It describes its goal as “To be a recognized as the leading business conglomerate in Africa, committed to our people, customers, suppliers and stakeholders.” It could easily be said that this is already the case: widely acknowledged as one of the fasted growing business entities in Africa, there is barely an industry that the Motisun Group isn’t involved in. In part, the Group credits its success outwards, though to make the most of external opportunity takes internal skill and ability. As it says, its growth “has been fueled by taking advantage of the numerous opportunities emerging in Africa as part of the overall move by several countries, particularly in East, Southern and West Africa, towards long term investment in building the infrastructure.”

Being able to shoulder the responsibility of identifying viable new opportunities takes courage and strength of character, two characteristics that Subhash does not lack at all. Making great strides in terms of introducing new product lines, branching out into different industries and embracing modern innovations, Subhash has set an incredible precedent for the continued success of the Motisun Group that is focused around trust, both in terms of having faith in one’s own instincts and those of the people that help to keep the organisation on track,

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With such a wide variety of business focal areas, not to mention countless products to keep track of and endless development to oversee, it must take a firm and experienced hand to steady the wheel, which is exactly what the Motisun Group benefits from.

“Under the able leadership, guidance and vision of Mr. Subhash M. Patel, Group CMD, the Motisun Group has become one of the most successful business brands in Africa. The group’s investment in Africa, while fostering economic growth and development, provides ample employment opportunities to the local youth. To date, the Motisun Group directly or indirectly provides employment to over 10,000 people.”

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The secret, which is applied to every industry that the Group operates within, is that the management teams can see past what people want in order to give them what they need, even if they don’t realise what that is yet. Taking a pre-emptive approach to a variety of business interests is exactly why the portfolio of the Motisun Group looks phenomenally diversified, but there is a link, even between say paints and beverages; the fact that there is a demand for new and innovative offerings.

“Our management is made up of a team of professionals with an exemplary track record, all of who have held senior management positions within organisations of repute, both locally and internationally. They have the rare ability of being able to identify key strategies and implement them effectively. We are perfectly placed, in the

Currently operating in Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Mozambique and Ghana, the Motisun Group enjoys a significant presence throughout Africa, but it can’t be long before it expands even more. With a plethora of desirable products and services to choose from, every household in Africa could feasibly become a loyal customer of one brand or another and if that isn’t the best business case you’ve ever heard of, we don’t know what is.

understanding of our people, the communities we serve and the governments we work with to combine our expertise with aspirations of all those who wish to profitably invest in Africa’s bright future.”

This succinct appraisal of the team in place at the Motisun Group directly relates to the mantra of the organisation; ‘rising across Africa’. At first glance, this could have referred to the sheer number of operations, businesses and brands that fall under the Group’s umbrella, but there is another meaning as well.

Clearly committed to improving the lives of customers, as well as Africans as a whole, the Group is trying to help everybody to rise across Africa. From the young people who need healthy drinks and snacks, not to mention promising employment opportunities, through to the paying guests who visit the country on holiday. When one person benefits, everybody should and while this is a business stance that is not as widely adopted as it once was, the Motisun Group is keeping it well and truly alive.

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PERFECT AIM AIMS Data Centre chevron-square-right aims.com.my Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

Based in Kuala Lumpur, AIMS’ reach extends throughout Southeast Asia, from its home of Malaysia and over to Thailand and Vietnam.

Music to our ears!

No wonder, then, that AIMS is an industry leader. It isn’t its customer service attitude, however, but its reach and its technology that allow it to claim this status (though its service certainly helps to obtain and retain those clients!) “As an industry leader in data centre operations, AIMS combines state-ofthe-art technology with innovative solutions and decades of experience to provide the best possible service for our customers. Businesses have the opportunity to connect with their partners, users and employees via our interconnected ecosystem of data centres across Southeast Asia.”

This is important now more than ever, after the pandemic moved much work home, and video and telephone calls were all that people had to turn to when it came to seeing their loved ones. Even now, much more work is done at home than it was before 2020, and in many companies, that change is set to stay.When remote working is on the table, it is not only clear connection for telephones and video calls that matters, but the smooth connecting of networks and safe, protected sharing of data between devices. With corporate information being sent to devices in private homes, this security is paramount: this information can be disastrously costly to lose or leak, and so, this data sharing must not only be smooth, but secure. It is also of particular importance between international offices. Thankfully, AIMS has invested in this area

These days, electronic data makes the world turn around. Data storage and data speed: it affects the day-to-day of our lives, and there’s nothing more frustrating than when something goes wrong. Speed and reliability are the cornerstones of what we, as companies and individuals, seek from data services, and it is these qualities that AIMS Data Centre is shooting for and hitting with success. We investigated this Southeast Asian provider to see how it delivers in this challenging and essential sector.

The company was founded in 1990 (young compared to many companies, but long in the tooth for any company in the data and computing space.) Well established and with a healthy reach, the company never-the-less prides itself on paying attention to the little things. In its own words; “At AIMS, we believe that no problem is too small, no client too trivial.” When it comes to data and tech support, there is nothing more demoralising than feeling undervalued or overlooked: AIMS knows this, and strives that no customer of theirs ever feels this way. Instead, the company treats every customer as equally important, and every issue is one that demands immediate attention and resolution.

AIMS Data Centre

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Both these providers and AIMS’ own operations are kept and assessed to a high standard on a par with the world’s very best:

In each of these locations, it is able to offer a single platform for everything from data storage to international connectivity.

“We are fully committed to ensuring that our operations meet not only our stringent quality standards, but global benchmarks as well.”

Focusing locally, AIMS also serves as the anchor site for the Malaysian Internet Exchange. This is no small feat: the company hosts not just some, but all domestic Telecommunication carriers in the country, as well as 80% of the foreign carriers. This position allows AIMS to connect its customers to whichever telecommunication company they favour, at a favourable rate. No matter who you pick, however, the chances are your business is going through AIMS, and this unstoppable data centre supports and benefits from its customers’ business, whoever they are signing with.

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AIMS’ many locations, and the many service providers it links to, has created a rich network for it to both operate in and offer to its clients. As the company describes, “as a result of our dynamic ecosystem, our customers enjoy instant and direct access to major players in important industries, among them networks, carriers, content and IT service providers.”

“Our goal is simple – to align ourselves with your interest to ensure that you get the service that you need.” This attention to detail here, both in terms of service offerings and in terms of a customer’s needs, is exactly what sets AIMS apart. It is doing more than just talking about it, too – the company puts this promise into action by studying its clients’ individual needs and customising its solutions accordingly, both at first contact and as the relationship continues. “We can customise our solutions and provide tailored options to help your business evolve,” the company offers, and knowing

through its holding company, TIME dotCom. This company possesses a vast global network through which AIMS is able to connect its various Points of Presence, of which it has one in Thailand (Bangkok), two in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur and Cyberjaya) and three in Vietnam (Tan Thuan, Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi).

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All in all, AIMS knows about data storage, and it knows about connectivity. Its list of certifications goes on and on, from the Uptime Institute Tier III Certification of Constructed Facility to Data Centre Risk Assessments to the Green Building Index. It knows what it is doing and it does it well, with careful attention to its customers’ needs and to every small detail of its operations, with performancedriven objectives and, as much as it can do, with perfect aim.

IT ENGINEERING SERVICE PROVIDER Design, Installation & Maintenance of IT Infrastructure Rack & Stack • Cabling • 24/7 Support Troubleshooting • Physical Audit Shipping & Retrieval • Security Network • Design & Build www.safar247ap.com • noc@safargemilang.com.my Safar Gemilang Sdn. Bhd, Suite 12.3, Level 12, Menara AIMS, Changkat Raja Chulan, 50200 Kuala Lumpur Perfect aim that this evolution will happen, it develops its solutions to keep them helpful and relevant as its clients’ success and needs grow and change. So, what services does it offer? Connectivity, safeguarding and even crisis recovery, AIMS is ready to help its clients through the day-to-day, to protect against the worst, and even to step in should the worst take place. Its colocation facilities – data centres where companies can rent server space – boast more secure storage for its clients’ data than their own local servers. These spaces offer configurable cage, suite and rack options, adjustable to budget, as well as direct crossconnectivity to any other customers signed with AIMS. Clients enjoy direct internet access to Tier 1 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with IPv4 /IPv6 dual stack network, along with 10G direct peering with the Malaysia Internet Exchange. It promises an uninterrupted power supply to these hired servers, including the less-than-desirable, but sometimes necessary diesel generators kept as an emergency backup. Cold Aisle Containment technology works to keep its computer banks cool, to avoid any lag or issues, and as well as their tight cybersecurity, the facilities are also guarded by around-theclock, physical security measures of various kinds. These physical elements do not immediately spring to mind when thinking about data services, and yet, they are just as essential as anything else.

The company even has advanced fire-combatting safety measures built in – far more so than most of their customers can claim when it comes to dedicated protection around their computers.

GEARING UP Formex chevron-square-right www.formex.co.za phone-square 27 41 405 1500 Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

Formex Industries delivers on both of these fronts. The company is owned by Deneb Investments Limited - a subsidiary of Hosken Consolidated Investments Limited (HCI), one of South Africa’s biggest true B-BBEE companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The company is proud to supply parts to OEMs including Ford, MercedesBenz and Volkswagen, as well as export out to North and South America, Asia and Europe. Its offerings are suitably diverse: metal pressing, complex welded assembly, laser tube welding and tube manipulation are all part of the services portfolio, with some more specialist options also available. As the company says of itself; “Formex Industries is a metal forming and assembly company that supplies a variety of complex products to the local automotive industry and export market... Our mission is that Formex Industries will be a technological, competitive entity in the development, fabrication and supply of automotive metal formed components.”

hey say that location is everything, but when you add in an exceptional product and a commitment to creating employment opportunities for local people, that’s a real recipe for success. It’s also the secret to standing out in a potentially crowded market.

Automotives are only as good as their parts, and in South Africa, one of the go-to suppliers of these parts is Formex Industries. The result of combined Formex Pressings and Formex Tubing, the company is a major employer within the thriving Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole – an area known for its automotive manufacturing and export. The location is perfect, but how does the company make the most of this opportunity and ensure that it is an important contributor within this sector?

T

Formex 78 | Endeavour Magazine

Formex specialises in producing components for the catalytic converter industry (cones, manipulated tubing, straight tubing, half shells, manifolds, heat shields), as well as metal components and assemblies for various vehicles (oil sumps, clutch and brake assemblies, tunnel and sill assemblies,

The IATF certification is a recognised guarantee of subscription to globally compliant standards and coupled with Formex’s track record for enjoying successful working relationships with its partners, it makes for a covetable partner in a crowded market.

a focus on quality, but there’s also a focus on minimising waste. This is called ‘lean manufacturing’ - manufacturing that uses processes which produce little to no waste, depending on the task – and it is a key priority for Formex. In conjunction with this, the company uses a process called ‘Six Sigma’, which is a data-driven approach for eliminating product and manufacturing defects. This quest for low waste is being pursued in both the practical and digital spaces, and it is through the combination of these approaches that true results can be achieved.

The South African automotive industry is competitive and a little different in that tenders for the supply of parts to OEMs have to be opened up to international bidders. Because of this, Formex has to perform on a global platform at all times and to give it an edge, the company has committed to a set of standards that sets it apart, “Quality products with efficient pricing and a reliable supply is absolutely key in the local automotive industry. Formex was one of the first few companies in South Africa to make the transition to the new global industry standard by the International Automotive Task Force (IATF). Formex holds an IATF 16949 certification, which guarantees quality products, efficient cost and reliable supply.”

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PREFERRED SUPPLIER FOR MAJOR COMPANIES IN SOUTH RajContactAFRICADetails:Singh 084 556 6981 raj@aerosat.co.za PE Office 041 453 3070 winsengineering.com The fastest turnaround time and quality available in Port Elizabeth WIRE CUTTING • CNC MILLING AND TURNING • SPARK EROSION • STAMPS • SCAN AND REVERSE ENGINEERING We strive to provide the best quality products and top tier customer service Automotive Tooling and Precision Engineering inner door frames, room members etc.) In these spheres, it is not only is it a first-tier supplier, but it has also carved itself a niche within the second tier of the local supply chain, by selling to other firsttierNotoperations.onlyisthere

As previously mentioned, Formex has an intrinsic interest in contributing to the local economy and it takes its responsibility seriously. There’s no simple paying of lip service here, as that wouldn’t benefit the country and the people that live in it, but instead, a rooted and deep desire to do the most possible, not least to merely look compliant,

“Formex is accredited as being a Level 2 B-BBEE (Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment) supplier with over 80% black ownership, of which more than 40% are black women.

“With a start base grant of 25%, the Automotive Investment Scheme will increase the grant proportionately to a maximum level of 35% if a company meets the added criteria of B-BBBEE Level 4 and up, turnover growth and job creation. Formex has met and retained all the criteria to maximise this grant.”

Industry transformation is an important step to securing the future through skills development and equity sharing. Employee education and skills development are a priority for Formex, ensuring that technical and management skills are improved and transferred into the local economy.”

Formex has remained focused on its clients’ needs and, with the dual intent of transformation and investment, will, as it puts it, “resolutely aspire to new heights and realise immense opportunities for the automotive industry.” This industry-supporting company is underpinned by quality, ethics and a sense of responsibility towards its staff, and also towards its customers and the country’s automotive industry as a whole. This makes it a fantastic addition to the industry by any metric, and as the automotive industry gears up and shifts towards an ever-growing EV space, we hope to see Formex moving, evolving and thriving with it.

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This ties in beautifully with an objective that has been set out for South Africa to account for 1% of global vehicle manufacturing outputs, including 60% of local parts in vehicles made in the country. There is also a mandate in place to double the number of industry employees and to become a global leader in terms of standards and Formex has met all the relevant criteria to be eligible for an opportunitygiving grant:

KEEPINGDesalcottFRESH chevron-square-right +1 868-636-3725 Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

Desalcott

Writing this article, the country we keep our offices in at Endeavour is undergoing a heat wave, so the importance of water is keenly on our minds. Staying hydrated during hot weather is essential, but one can only do this if one has access to clean, safe water. Of course, for islands such as Trinidad and Tobago, access to water is easy enough, if you want to take a cooling dip, but for all that they are both surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, this is not water you can drink. For that, you need companies such as Desalcott, a desalination producer that seeks to provide potable water in an efficient and sustainable way.

WASA was founded by an Act of Parliament in 1965, whereas Desalcott is a subsidiary of the HK Group of Companies, which has successfully pioneered EPC projects for over 40 years. In 1999, WASA signed a contract with Desalcott, asking the company to produce over a hundred thousand cubic metres of water per day (24 MIGD) for a period of twenty years, which WASA would purchase. This water was primarily intended for the Point Lisas Industrial Estate tenants, and any surplus was used by WASA to supplement their own supply to residents in South Trinidad. Later, in 2012, WASA increased this contract from 24 MIGD to 40 MIGD. As shutting down their operations to conduct the expansion was out of the question, it was planned that the construction would take place in increments over a thirteen-month period, with deliveries of water increasing appropriately. By the end of 2013, the gradual expansions had pushed

WASA (Trinidad and Tobago’s Water and Sewage Authority) and Desalcott have enjoyed a long and prosperous relationship, and one in which WASA keeps raising the bar of what is required from Desalcott – a bar that Desalcott keeps meeting.

The plant was a joint enterprise between Trinidadian company Hafeez Karamath Engineering Services Limited and General Electric, and also received financing from HKESL and Ionics Inc ($20 million). In 2000, the project also received support from the Republic Bank Limited through the Republic Finance and Merchant Bank (Fincor). More long-term financing was established in 2003, until in 2012, HKESL bought all of the shares outright and became the plant’s sole owner. This now makes Desalcott a wholly Trinidadian-owned and run operation.

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Trinidad and Tobago have dry seasons, where its rainfall cannot be expected to do the heavy lifting of its water product. It is during this time that Desalcott shines. The company is the largest desalination producer in the Southern Hemisphere, operating twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. During the islands’ dry season, this never-ending activity produces between 1520% of the water needed. All this is achieved in a desalination plant that originally cost $200 million to design and build. Desalcott was responsible for both of these steps, as well as its continued responsibility to operate and maintain the plant.

Making seawater potable is not merely as simple as removing the salt - desalination is actually a three-stage process, with much that must be filtered from the seawater before it can be drunk, and many other considerations besides. In Desalcott’s case, this process begins with the intake of raw seawater from the Gulf of Paria, which is screened and then pumped for one and a half kilometres via three 42-inch diameter pipelines. Once macro impurities such as ocean debris, dirt and organic material have been removed, the water is then transported to the facility and passed through a pre-treatment stage.

Desalcott’s peak capacity to 50.4 million US gallons perDevelopmentday. has continued since then. For example, as a shift towards a heavier focus on sustainability has taken place in industry, Desalcott has followed it, seeking always to keep its technology efficient and able to supply this critical demand in a heating world. As the company states, “Desalcott has state of the art Research & Development facilities to ensure continuous improvement in plant operations and sustainability of water supply. This is fundamental for plant optimization and production reliability. R&D enables the application of the latest environmentally sustainable water treatment and desalination methods. R&D innovations have become a focal point of our operations as the plant addresses the challenges of sustainable development compounded with climatic changes.”

Minimising membrane degradation is another aim that needs to be addressed. Seawater contains silt and various other entrained solids; a cocktail

Continuous and reliable pre-treatment of raw seawater involves a total system approach to increase the efficiency of the reverse osmosis system. One of the goals of this stage is to minimize the impact of processes such as fouling and scaling: fouling is what happens when water becomes contaminated through the entrapment of particulates in the liquid through the deposition of bacterial and other biological residues, and scaling is what happens when water that contains too much calcium, magnesium or other salts is heated. (Just think about what happens to your kitchen kettle or coffee machine!)

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Toray’s Innovative Membrane Technology is leading the way to a sustainable future by producing clean water and recovering valuable resources. Wastewater Treatment and Reuse / Drinking Water / Oil and Gas / Food and Beverage / Power Plant / Irrigation / Pharmaceutical / Water Treatment Chemicals

www.water.toray

In order to help it complete this process, the company employs over a hundred full-time staff. This team not only manages to produce water safely and adequately – it actually takes the results above and beyond, producing water at less than 85mg of dissolved solids per litre: that is purer than World Health Organisation (WHO) standards, and is even purer than the water produced by WASA themselves! Producing 250 billion gallons of desalinated water at this standard, this plant is not only the largest supplier of desalination water in the Western Hemisphere, but it is also one of the cleanest. That is an incredible standard to set, and one that the company intends to maintain. It is wellset to keep growing along with Trinidad and Tobago, with plans in place to expand along with continued urban expansion within the nation, so that supply will always be present to meet this essential demand.

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Applications:

The final product is passed through posttreatment, where a solution of sodium hypochlorite is used to provide residual chlorine to ensure that the drinking water is free of any biological activity that could cause illness, and finally, a lime solution of calcium carbonate is used to give the water a near neutrality of between 7 and 8.5 pH.

Materials Change Our Lives

Keeping fresh of ferric chloride is used as a coagulant and a catatonic polymer is used as coagulant acid, and together these chemicals remove the solids from the seawater. As well as removing these solids, it is also essential to remove the microorganisms within the water. Sodium hypochlorite is used to minimise/ prevent bio-fouling of the reverse osmosis membranes in the seawater, and then sulphuric acid is utilized as an antiscalant to eliminate carbonate and sulphate scaling.

THEHEARTISLANDS’Plipdeco chevron-square-right www.plipdeco.com phone-square +1 868 636-2201 Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

The history of the Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation Limited is a long and involved one, filled with foresight and determination on the part of Trinidad and Tobago’s South Chambre – the body that would one day form the PLIPDECO board. Until the late 1930s, cargo vessels headed for Trinidad would anchor offshore and the cargo would be split into lighter loads to be taken to the Port of Spain or San Fernando. This allowed San Fernando, Trinidad’s second city, to benefit from the same level of business as the Port of Spain. However, in 1937, the Port of Spain was dredged and converted into a deep-water operation, which left San Fernando out to dry. This led to years of campaigning from the business owners of San Fernando for the islands of Trinidad and Tobago to build a new industrial port that could draw back this business – campaigning that continued until 1966,

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The Port of Point Lisas is one of two major ports in Trinidad and Tobago and consists of six general cargo and container berths. The facility handles a variety of cargo, including containerised, breakbulk, lumber, paper, consumables, dry bulk and steel. In total, the estate is home to over a hundred companies; whilst the petrochemical sector has a dominant presence, there are many other many multi-national production plants also operating there. It is up to PLIPDECO to oversee and maintain this important epicentre. As the company states; “Our mission is to develop, market and operate port, logistics and industrial estate infrastructure for optimal economic growth, alongside our vision of becoming a global leader in port and estate management by consistently providing superior, innovative service. We will act with honesty, without compromising the truth and be personally accountable for the highest standards of behaviour and we will convert knowledge and ideas to new approaches that will revolutionise the way we work.” Largely, its work these days centres around the preservation of the site’s essential infrastructure, but it was the construction of this infrastructure, and the long and arduous path that led to this construction, that tells PLIPDECO’s real story.

When talking about Trinidad and Tobago, and in particular, the islands’ industrial activity, Point Lisas tends to come up. The Point Lisas Industrial Estate, close to the famous Point Lisas port, is an essential element in the nation’s economy-carrying petrochemical sector. The estate is a world-class facility, representing an investment of over US $2 billion. Who maintains it? PLIPDECO – the Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation. But the real story isn’t in this management, but in how the development first came to be.

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when the project was finally approved and greenlit. From here, PLIPDECO was born. In order to reach this point, many studies were carried out to prove the need for a deep-water port, and these studies would not have persisted if the business owners pushing for them had given up or fallen quiet. As it was, after many years, it was at long last acknowledged by the islands’ government that not only was a commercial port development the way forward, but that an insightful and trustworthy team was needed to oversee and manage it. This job was entrusted to the members of the South Chamber who had lobbied long and hard for the development, allowing them to bring their shrewd business sense to the project.

When the company came into being on September 16th 1966, there wasn’t a port to develop, let alone an industrial estate to manage. In this lay one of the challenges: the land upon which it made sense for the port and surrounding estate to be built was, at the time, well-established sugar land. Whilst the land was marginal, it still bore sugarcane – a main staple of Trinidad and Tobago’s economy at the time. These days, petrochemical and other heavy-industry undertakings are definitive for the islands, but this would never have become the case if the battle for this port had fallen to this traditional reliance on the sugar trade. It was a gamble, but one that was taken. As the company describes: “Sugar, the commodity of the old economy, gave way to the high technology of the new: cane to wire rods. Point Lisas was Trinidad and Tobago’s way of making a break with the past and turning its natural resources into steady revenue.”

It took over thirty years, but finally, this ambitious project was realised, and both the project and the Chambre that had championed it finally got their recognition: in 1967, soon after the construction was complete, thenPrime Minister Dr Eric Williams declared the South Chambre a “vigorous body dedicated to the economic development not only of the south but of the entire country.”

In maintaining these, PLIPDECO maintains more than the companies and facilities themselves – it maintains the beating heart of Trinidad & Tobago’s industry, and through that, the entirety of the twin islands. Every key piece of a nation’s activities has an important role like this to play, and in PLIPDECO’s case, that importance is clear to see.

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Continuing to innovate even after construction had been achieved, PLIPDECO led the way again by being one of the first companies in Trinidad and Tobago to offer shares. Today, the government maintains 51% of these shares, whilst the other 49% are held by private companies. This leading cut of the shares for the government was awarded in recognition of the funding that had made construction possible: however, once again proving their shrewd business sense, the members of the South Chamber created a way to make sure that they maintained control of the project itself: to do this, they created ‘Subscriber’ shares – nine in total – which were only valued at TT$1, but which gave the owner the right to appoint 12 of the 15 board members. The Chamber held these nine shares, and thus, it did not lose control of its brain-child. With these developments now built and longestablished, what does their maintenance require of PLIPDECO? As well as managing the operations of the port itself, it answers to the needs of the Estate’s tenants – the 100+ companies that include a mix of world-class methanol, ammonia and urea plants, three steel plants, a power plant and smaller light manufacturing and service companies.

NationalPOWERINGANATIONEnergyCorporationTrinidadandTobagoLimited chevron-square-right nationalenergy.tt phone-square 868 636.8471 Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

For these islands, whose energy sector is largely centred around oil & gas, this means not only involving itself in the gas industry but in all infrastructure surrounding and supporting this, Representative of: Damen GorinchemShipyards

National Energy Corporation and

steel Saramaccastraat 33-35 • P.O. Box 1846 • Paramaribo, Suriname • South America Email: drydock@sr.net • Phone: (597) 475100 – 425757 – 424252 • Fax: (597) 420750 • Website: www.surinamedrydock.com 96 | Endeavour Magazine

bearings and parts One propeller

SURINAME AND SHIPBUILDING COMPANY S.A. Facilities

Incorporated in 1979, National Energy is a 100% owned subsidiary of another national body, The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC). Initially set up to assist in the monetising and development of the country’s energy resources, National Energy quickly grew and absorbed extra responsibilities, including industrial and marine infrastructure management and the construction of petrochemical plants; but it was in 1999 that things really started to gear up as the company was re-operationalised and given an expanded mandate. In 2004, its mandate was further expanded with the responsibility for developing new energy-related projects in Trinidad and Tobago. In 2013, it rebranded to National Energy to reflect its modern and efficient approach to its responsibilities.Today,National Energy carries a mandate to “conceptualize, promote, develop and facilitate new energy-based and downstream industries”

One machine shop for repairing and machining of shafts, shop for repairing several kinds of propellers such as manganese bronze, bronial, aluminum and stainless

When it comes to supplying energy to an entire country, the demand for reliability and efficiency is high, but National Energy Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago Limitedbetter known simply as National Energy - has been making it look easy for over 40 years.

One

One floating drydock of 50.00 x 22.00 x 1.60 meters with breadth of 18.00 meters between the wing walls and a lifting capacity of 1100 tons floating drydock of 30.00 x 13.40 1.22 meters with breadth of 10.05 meters between the wing walls and a lifting capacity of 150 tons slipway with a capacity of 100 tons and one for new buildings and repairs of vessels up to 600 tons with a length of 70.00 meters

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Trinidad

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Tobago Limited

including deepwater ports and other marine assets. Harbour operations are as essential as the islands’ power plants themselves, and especially for these islands, who ship natural gas as a major export. As National Energy wrote, “National Energy has been mandated by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to identify and develop new industrial estates and ports for the location of petrochemical, inorganic and downstream industries.”

One such port development was Port Galeota. Now complete, this project cost $100 million, and took place in conjunction with improvements being made to the islands’ existing Port of Brighton. This work vastly expanded the marine operations that National Energy is responsible for overseeing. This work is essential, yet this industry and these operations are also seen as significant carbon emitters. Whilst this can be so, National Energy is putting its mind to countering and limiting such environmental impact, as well. As the entity says of itself: “We are committed to the sustainability of the local and regional energy sectors through the development of gas and energybased industries while providing the associated infrastructure to support these industries.” It is not only providing energy, therefore, that is National Energy’s bottom line, but finding ways to do so sustainably, including – where possible – cleanly, and to set up Trinidad and Tobago’s infrastructure so that its future is as strong as its present (if not stronger).Thebiggest step towards this, for National Energy, has been to look in more detail at energy efficiency. Reducing waste through inefficiency reduces the energy used, and thus the environmental impact. In looking into this issue, National Energy has opted for the development of a Super ESCO efficiency model – an Energy Services Company model developed for entities to improve efficiency and reduce emissions. By implementing a Super ESCO, National Energy hopes to not only improve its own efficiency but boost the message and promote these same approaches to the wider industry and country. It plans to do this via an internationally developed model, which includes research, marketing, and education, as well as to promote and even facilitate private sector investment in energy efficiency programmes. Meanwhile, the company is investing in its own energy efficiency, and it is using the data from its own experiences and learning curves to further aid others that follow their example.

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Our fleet •

These developments are exciting not only for National Energy, but for Trinidad and Tobago as a whole and, beyond that, they are yet another step in the right direction for the planet. Looking at Trinidad and Tobago in particular, its growing affluence, success and, of course, access to energy is National Energy’s focus, and the future looks set to include even more branching out. As National Energy describes:

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However, as well as looking out for Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector interests, National Energy also takes its position as a market leader seriously by honouring its CSR. In its own words, the company pledged that, when embarking on such initiatives; “National Energy will be a leader and innovator in the field of CSR, create shared value for the company www.ktktugs.com 35 years of experience in Harbor and Off Shore services in the Caribbean Basin 15 Vessels consisting of ASD Tug and pilot boats 60 ton+ bollard pull STCW certified crew ISO 9001 14001 Standard and its multiple stakeholders, with a focus on socioeconomic development and human development, support initiatives which preserve the national identity and heritage and will seek to be sustainable in the way we conduct our daily operations and in the social interventions we develop, implement and support.”

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This was recently evidenced in its company-sponsored Energy Efficiency Audit and Solar PV installation training for residents of its fence line communities. These training programmes also demonstrate the company’s commitment to ensuring its fence line communities are well equipped with the skills necessary to ensure they are active players in the energy transition. Always looking to the future and underpinning new innovations and ideas, with over four decades of market-leading expertise, National Energy is an admirable commodity in the modern business world. With a clear desire to be always moving forward for the good of the people that it serves, the coming years are set to be exciting and successful ones for National Energy, as well as Trinidad and Tobago as a whole.

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“Today, National Energy is well positioned as the force that will drive the expansion of the energy sector into the future. The company is taking a proactive approach to promoting Trinidad and Tobago’s energy brand regionally and internationally, as well as continuing to execute the development of energy projects and infrastructure under the guidance of the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries.”

HOLDINGNamWaterWATER chevron-square-right www.namwater.com.na phone-square 264 61 71 0000 Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

As NamWater explains: “Excess rain can cause floods that are difficult to manage and during droughts surface water is insufficient, resulting in water restrictions. Groundwater resources, a ‘hidden treasure’ underground, are more reliable, widespread and naturally protected against evaporation.” Not only is this resource of water there to supply a need, but extracting water in this way has a sustainable cycle of its own, as it is able to be turned to during dry periods, and then replenishes when it is unneeded during heavy rains. Finding this groundwater is not a simple case of tapping into the ground and finding a plentiful pool: whilst near the surface, it is stored in the pore spaces between sand grains and in voids of rocks.

Understandably, from those statistics, Namibia is the driest country south of the Sahara.

Over the past 100 years, more than 100,000 ground water boreholes have been drilled in Namibia, providing drinking water for communities and livestock as well as irrigation for crops, and even a resource to be used by industries and mines. This method of accessing water does not require

The country’s sources of water are border rivers, dams on ephemeral rivers, seawater desalination, recycled water, bore holding and ground water. Of these, ground water is a major source for Namibia, for whilst most sources rely on the inconsistent rainfall, this digs deep enough to find water that is not reliant on this. It is this resource collection that is one of NamWater’s points of focus.

It is this last group, and not NamWater itself, that supplies water to rural communities. That said, the water must first be produced.

Of the rain that falls, around 83% evaporates, with a further 14% lost through transpiration, 2% joins rivers and 1% makes it underground. Water is scarce, and the handling and distribution of it must be done carefully and well. We took a look at the Namibia Water Corporation Ltd (NamWater), whose task it is to do just that.

Namibia’s relationship with water is a delicate and important one.

NamWater was founded in December 1997 as a commercial entity (though one for whom the Government is the sole shareholder, and that aims to operate at cost recovery tariffs only) that supplies water in bulk to industries, municipalities and the Directorate of Water Supply and Sanitation coordination in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry.

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The country’s annual rainfall figures ranges from 550mm to 600mm in the far North to between 250mm to 300mm in the South. In the Kalahari Desert in the east, only between 50-250mm falls, and in the large coastal stretch from Oranjemund in the South to Kunene in the North-West, less than 50mm.

CPVC’s inherent resistance to chemical exposure, combined with its reliability and ability to stand up to high pressures and heat, make it the ideal material for residential, commercial, and industrial piping systems.

Holding water

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an elaborate grid, meaning it can be utilised in remote areas, making a world of difference both to agriculture and the ease of survival. However, this water source relies on local conditions – namely, geological factors. This means such sources are not evenly distributed: in fact, there are only a few places with the favourable conditions needed for high volumes of groundwater – certainly for groundwater that can be sustainably extracted. However, it is fortunately uncommon for areas to have no groundwater at all.

Between the months of October to December, Namibia’s dams can lose anything between 20%-85% of their water held. Sea Desalination and water recycling, therefore, are two other important sources of water – or,

Everyone knows water’s actual role for Human Life “it Brings Nutrition to Human cells, Oxygen to Our Brain, responsible for Toxins and waste are washed out from body & even kinetic Energy”. So wherever potable water is needed, Flowguard® CPVC is recognised as the safest, most reliable, and cost-effective solution available.

The country does of course have rivers, and also have a total of 18 dams constructed across the region. In total, Namibia holds five perennial rivers (rivers that come and go with the season) and about 20 well-defined, ephemeral rivers. These were built to collect rainfall, but with such high evaporation rates, there is only so far these can be relied on.

All this is not to say that Namibia had never explored water recycling before – whilst it is has only recently begun this remarkable charge into re-using waste water, it has been reusing potable water for the past 45 years! This in fact makes the country an early innovator in this area, as testified to by the existence of the Goreangab Reclamation Plant, which supplies drinking water to the country’s busy capital city.

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they could be, given the right time and investment. When it comes to desalination plants – plants that will process sea-water and turn it from salt water to potable water, plans have been in place to construction these along Namibia’s Central Coast since 1996. As of yet, however, these plans have not come to fruition. Feasibility studies have been carried out to confirm the need for this project: the amount of potable water supplied by ground water resources is no longer enough to meet demand – and yet still, NamWater has not yet been able to carry out these plans it is eager to bring to life. In the meantime, however, NamWater still received potable water from a desalination plant owned by another entity - Arano Resources Namibia - and operated by another - Aveng Water Treatment Namibia. This source provides NamWater with 12 million cubic meters of water a year, which it in turn sells and distributes to mines and industrial companies. In-house, it has the short-term handling capacity of 20 million cubic meters a year, which over a longer-term capacity can be risen to 45 million cubic meters a year. This would be enough to meet the Erongo regions’ water demands, but currently, exceeds the amount NamWater receives to distribute. When handling a precious resource and battling scarcity, recycle is essential. Currently, the progress in this area (at least when it comes to the re-use of dirtied ‘waste water) lags behind sea desalination, and certainly behind ground water use. That said, whilst it is small in scale, it is ahead in being forward-thinking!

NamWater is involved in some groundbreaking work

The idea is still in the stage of being floated and explored, having taken off in 2013 following a talk on Water Reuse in Windhoek at the 9th International Water Association’s (IWA) conference. This event stressed and highlighted the point that ‘waste water’ was not a ‘waste product’, but rather reframed it as a reusable resource.

NamWater quotes Piet du Pisani, the strategic executive for Infrastructure Water Technical Services at the City of Windhoek, as having described the situation thusly: “Windhoek is a living example that even the top mode of reuse, potable reuse, is feasible, practical and safe.” Today, Windhoek is now one of the only places in the world where sewage effluent is directly treated into potable water!

It is said that the government intends to make substantial investments in the long-term development of in water infrastructure of Namibia, and has also commissioned a study to conduct an Engineering and Environmental assessment of all options for the augmentation of water supply for Central Areas of Namibia and for the four Northern Regions. All in all, it is an exciting period for Namibia’s water solutions – solutions that it very much needs, and that it as a country is committed to finding.

³ specifications and high quality demands. Our product portfolio includes not Only Solar PV Systems, Grid-tied and Island Solutions. But also Solar Water heating, Supercapacitor and LIthum Iron Battery solutions, UPS solutions, Water Pumping And water bulk Storage Solutions, as well as Backup Generators as part of Solar off-grid solutions. For more information on our Wide Product range and Solutions, please visit our Website: www.nec-namibia.com or Contact us on NECpp@nec-namibia.com ³ Endeavour Magazine | 107

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