• Pages
  • Editions
01 Cover
02 Welcome Letter / Sections
03 Index & Interview Directory
04 Section 1: Introduction
05 The Road to Recovery
06 ABSA Group Interview
07 PwC Interview
08 Regional Trends
09 Sustainability & ESG Gaining Momentum
10 SRK Consulting Interview
11 Nafasi Water & ZN Geo Services Interviews
12 Section 2: Production, Development and Exploration
13 Precious Metals
14 Gold Fields Interview
15 Harmony & Pan African Resources Interviews
16 Base and Energy Metals
17 Lepidico Interview
18 Trevali Mining Interview
19 Orion Minerals Interview
20 Vedanta Zinc International Interview
21 Kumba Iron Ore Interview
22 Diamonds
23 Lucara Diamond Interview
24 Debswana Interview
25 Section 3: South Africa
26 South Africa
27 Ministry of Mineral Resouces and Energy SA Interview
28 Minerals Council SA Interview
29 Seriti & Exxaro Resources Interviews
30 NSDV & ENSafrica Interviews
31 Insights on South African Mining Industry's Health
32 Section 4: Namibia
33 Namibia
34 Chamber of Mines Namibia Interview
35 RMB & Standard Bank Namibia Interviews
36 Walvis Bay Salt Holdings Interview
37 Insights on Namibia as a Mining Investment Destination
38 Section 5: Equipment and Services
39 The Journey to Modern Mining
40 Murray & Roberts Interview
41 Kal Tire Interview
42 Eazi Access Interview
43 METC Engineering Interview
44 Insights on Digital Mining Revolution in Africa
45 MEMSA Interview
46 Fabchem Mining Interview
47 Insights from Local Manufacturers
48 Energy
49 juwi Interview
50 Engie Impact & Vivo Energy Interviews
51 Howden Interview
52 Section 6: Sponsored Company Profiles
53 Trevali Company Profile
54 Murray & Roberts Company Profile
55 Concluding Remarks
56 Credits

John Martin, Vice President of Southern Africa,

KAL TIRE

"Our innovative re-treading and repair solutions can extend the life and performance of tires, generate savings, and keep tires out of the waste stream, which is a tremendous environmental benefit."

What is Kal Tire’s history in Southern Africa?

Kal Tire originated in Canada in 1953 providing tire-related services to road construction projects. The company expanded its offering to mining and today has a significant retail, commercial and mining footprint across Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Australia. The company’s presence in Africa started more than a decade ago. In 2017, Kal Tire acquired Tyre Corporation in South Africa, becoming the largest and most diversified tire services company on the African continent.

Mining represents more than 90% of our African business, with a primary focus on surface mining in West Africa and both underground and surface mining in Southern Africa.

From our Johannesburg office, we serve the Southern African region, while the West African region is served from our offices in the UK.

How are your solutions tailored to the mines’ needs?

We are a multi-brand dealer and align ourselves with tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 manufacturers. We approach the market with our supply partners to jointly develop and grow the selected brands, ensuring that these brands ultimately add the needed operational value to the customer. For the South African market, we have exclusive access to several products, both for surface and underground mining, which work exceptionally well and can add value to the client.

Can you elaborate on Kal Tire’s GAS and TOMS systems and how they add value to the company’s offering?

Our innovative Tire Operation Management System, TOMS, is the most advanced management system for tires and positively impacts productivity, tire life and safety. Focused on fleet productivity and accessible, near-live reports, TOMS gives the visibility for planned and predictive maintenance and thus enables informed, real-time decisions. With instant, visual communication between the entire fleet planning team, more tire work can be performed while trucks are already down for maintenance.

Our award-winning Gravity Assist System (GAS) supports the weight of heavy tools to reduce safety risks, such as fatigue and muscle strain, for technicians. This system is an excellent example of Kal Tire’s philosophy towards innovation for enhancing safety, reducing risk and improving productivity.

How does Kal Tire help mining companies to fulfil their sustainability goals?

Kal Tire has invested in the development of solutions that help customers fulfil their sustainability commitments. We have always been focused on the complete life of the tire and we therefore always emphasize the need for solutions such as recycling, re-treading and repairs. We not only help mines extend tire life, but also help solve the great challenge of recycling scrap tires. We are the only company globally with a thermal conversion facility that delivers a revolutionary approach to recycling large mining tires – decomposing organic material with heat, in the absence of oxygen, converting tires back into their original components of fuel oil, carbon black, and steel. The facility can recycle 20 tons daily, with 40% of the weight of the scrap tires having the potential to be used as alternative fuels. Our innovative re-treading and repair solutions can extend the life and performance of tires, generate savings, and keep tires out of the waste stream, which is a tremendous environmental benefit.

What are the challenges of operating in Southern Africa?

The biggest challenge we face in most African countries is corruption. We are encouraged by the progress South Africa is making in this regard, and we hope that we will soon have better control over both corruption and crime in South Africa. It is extremely difficult to grow in this market with such low levels of foreign investment due to the associated political risk. Countries like Botswana and the DRC consistently attract more capital investment into their mining sectors than South Africa does. Although significant opportunities remain in South Africa and the region, there are some significant hurdles that we need to get past to be enable growth and development and to attract that much needed foreign investment.

Next:

Interview: Eazi Access