COMPANY PROFILE
2014
Keto Pumps
Extending life, cutting costs
company profile
Extending life, cutting costs Editorial: Tim Hands Production: James Clark Keto Pumps is strengthening its position in the southern African region and is looking to add to its impressive portfolio of major clients in mining and associated industries. By being close to clients and offering world-class technology that is sustainable and durable, the company is becoming recognised as an industry leader. IndustrySA finds out more from General Manager of African Operations, Chris Neil.
Formed in 2012, Keto Pumps embodies a merger between Keto Australia and First Africa Pumps, two companies brought together through acquisitions by Scottish private equity company Clyde Blowers Capital. Today, Keto Mining Pumps and Systems is a designer, manufacturer, and supplier of engineered slurry pumps and solutions, operating across the full spectrum of mining industry activities. Its principal aim is twofold: to reduce the cost of mining for its numerous customers, alongside a commitment to delivering industry leading products and services which continue to meet the technical and commercial challenges of these customers. “The Keto philosophy is to be close to our customer,” states Chris Neil, General Manager of African Operations for Keto Pumps, “to be able to offer them excellent service and have stock close to a mine, so that if a pump goes down we can provide a part very quickly.
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“When we bought Keto Australia and First Africa Pumps, the aim was to put them together because First Africa had a lot of the operational capabilities,” explains Neil, “there is a foundry down in Johannesburg, as well as a facility for the manufacture of polymers and rubbers in Richard’s Bay, both key components in our products. “Then, on the other hand, Australia had a lot of the advanced technology; they’ve got some really good designs that will give mines up to eight times the amount of life out of a component – clearly very important for the mines that are changing wear parts very frequently. It was therefore very attractive to combine these two companies, based in two of the key mining parts of the world - in Southern Africa and Australia - and we had the combination of advanced engineering and operational capability.” With its presence in Africa having been strengthened recently via the acquisition of Benex Mining Services, the
Keto Pumps
company has been allowed to expand its product range and provide rapid response to its customers’ mine sites. “Our core market is hard ores, within the minerals and mining industry – the stuff that wears out pumps really quickly. Quite a lot of the platinum ores in the Rustenberg area, and a lot of the gold ores as well, are very abrasive and completely eat up pumps. Our technology is particularly good for those really abrasive applications, which means our customers get a product that lasts longer, but also for us in terms of our aftermarket revenues, it’s a great advantage,” says Neil. With a principal focus then on processes involving gold, iron, copper, as well as some titanium oxide applications around the Richard’s Bay area, Keto’s expertise extends beyond this sector: “Our products are also used in the subsidiary applications, notably within the refining industry in Africa’s numerous sugar plantations. Essentially, our products are used anywhere
for transporting slurries, anything that is particularly abrasive or where non-clean fluids are having to be pumped,” Neil explains.
“We look for people with experience, but equally we look for go-getters” Keto’s ability to make pumps more efficient makes it a more attractive proposition than ever in the current climate, when there is such a profound focus on minimising operational expense. “The efficiency with our parts is much higher than the competition, and is sustained over a longer period of time,” explains Neil. “You not only save money on our parts and the labour associated with shutting down a plant, sending in the personnel to disassemble the pump and repair it, but also
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company profile
a significant saving will be had on energy costs through the life of the pump. We also offer sealing solutions that use up to 90% less water than alternative seals so we can help there too.” Perhaps more than ever before, margins are tight and savings must be made wherever possible: “In a lot of the mines at the moment, we’re finding that when the gold, platinum, copper prices were high it was fairly easy to make money – there weren’t the same concerns over efficiency or cash-flows because profits were higher.” Now, by contrast, the move towards OPEX (operating
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expense) reduction has proved beneficial for Keto in particular, “because we can go in and offer to manage the pumps assets for a company, or perhaps just supply the parts, but crucially fewer of them will be needed and we’ll use less power. Simply putting in Keto components or Keto kit will bring about a saving, reducing mining costs while maintaining safety.” This is one issue that simply refuses to go away for Keto, and is where the company is focussing much of its collective effort at present. “OPEX reduction is the big story at the moment. There is a line which is calculated,
Keto Pumps and if the mine’s costs go above this then they can’t make money. There are many sites where if the commodity’s price drops even a small amount, they are forced to be put into care and maintenance – so the mine is shut down until it becomes more profitable again. This has further consequences, for example you could look at the $400 million that is lost each year through illegal mining, and so this is where OPEX reduction becomes such an important issue. A mine cannot operate if the costs are higher than its commodity break-even point, and these are issues that Keto is well equipped to deal with. “Through implementing pumps where the total cost of ownership is reduced - wear parts that last a long time and when they need replaced will be available quickly and at reasonable cost - we can help to make this point a little more comfortable to achieve,” says Neil. The near future looks set to hold a number of further developments within Keto’s already rising stock. “In recent years it has been more about incremental changes that have improved wear rates in the design of impellers, throat bushes and bearing housings for example. We have modified the hydraulic profiles of our impellers,
changes might not be easily detected, but which result in a flow of slurry that dramatically reduces circulation and concentrated wear areas, and can commonly increase the life of an impeller by two, three or even more times. We have also recently launched our Keramithane material, which is a new extended wear life material, that consists of up to 95% ceramic beads cast into a high wear urethane matrix. “This material combines the advantages of urethane and ceramic parts without the risks of cracking, and avoids the high purchase cost of traditional ceramics,” explains Neil. This focus on continual development has long been a feature of Keto’s methodology: “The way we look to get an installation is through our superior technology. A lot of the products that we’re launching are taking some of the technologies that we’ve refined in the Australian market and applying them for the first time in Africa. We see no reason why we should not be selling the best technology globally wherever possible, and we’re investing in systems to support that. We’ve invested in new vehicles, we’re buying new facilities and training up people – we’ll also be investing in future acquisitions,
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company profile leading to us growing significantly.” Talking about the future for both Keto Pumps and Clyde Blowers Capital, Neil says: “It’s quite a simple strategy. Offer superior technology, close to the customer, at a good price - give people no reason to go to some of the bigger players, and make sure that this decision to choose us is justified. “Initially, we brought together Australian technology and the local element in Africa with operational capability. We’ve continued to develop this technology, and our acquisitions and investments will allow us to continue to grow. Both for us as a private equity company, and especially for African business, it’s a good story and one we can continue to develop through locally sourcing components and training more personnel.”
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“The efficiency with our parts is much higher than the competition, and is sustained over a longer period of time”
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VanMech
Manufacturing Design Consulting Keto Pumps
Agents for Gear Machinery
Engineering Our services include manufacturing components for the pump, mining, steel, power transmission and industrial gearing industries. We also offer specialised services e.g. design and failure analysis. VanMech Engineering prides itself on delivering a quality product no matter how big or small. Each customer’s needs are extremely important to our team and we always ensure full transparency from start to finish. The result is both a happy workforce and a satisfied customer. Our aim is to establish long term partnerships with our key customers such as Keto Pumps. This has resulted in our customers’ demands being met each and every time. Over the past two years we have developed our partnership and increased our capacity to meet Keto Pumps’ requirements.
Our new facility, set to open in May 2014, will boast some of the finest equipment available including: • 7 conventional lathes (the largest being 770 dia x 3500 long) • 2 conventional milling machines • 1 internal slotting machine • 1 surface grinder • hydraulic CNC lathes • 1 CNC 2000 shaft lathe • 1 CNC milling machine • 1 vertical boring mill 1200 • We also have a 2 ton lifting capacity, and will upgrade to 5 tons in our new facility
Address :
Port of Ngqura
PO Box 10040 Northmead Benoni 1522
Tel: 011 740 3268 Fax: 086 684 0134 Cell: 082 825 5347
email: louis@vanmech.co.za
www.vanmech.co.za Contact us today for any enquiry, big or small.
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086 658 4614 www.ketopumps.com.au
(0)1603 618 000 info@industrysa.com East Coast Promotions Ltd, Ferndale Business Centre, 1 Exeter Street. Norwich, Norfolk NR2 4QB