The latest expansion, completed in March, focused on the division’s fabrication arm and followed last year’s upgrade of the turning and machine shop.

General engineering and fabrication capabilities now include bending, guillotining, plate rolling and profile-section rolling.  They complement the milling, drilling, turning, boring and slotting capabilities of the machine shop.

UMP managing director Trevor Carolin explained that it was the division’s versatility that delivered its competitive advantage.

“The slotting capability by itself is quite rare, and we expect slotting alone to generate a lot of interest in the market,” he said.

“But our fabrication and precision engineering facilities as an entity can now make anything from structural steelwork through to complex hydrocyclone components and complete machines.”

As examples of the division’s work, Carolin pointed to shafts, tanks, launders, chutes and fabricated chute components, steel inserts for the rubber and polyurethane moulding industries, and the modification of bell housings and flywheels for large engineering companies.

“We recently executed a contract for generator sets from design right through to delivery of the completed products, so it is fair to say that our capability encompasses both technical and intricate work,” Carolin said.

In addition to the installation of engineering machinery, UMP has also recently invested in 3D modelling software to enable full design and finite element analysis.

“This gives us a comprehensive problem-solving ability, so that we have the resources and infrastructure to resolve any specific customer problem, design the product needed for the solution, and then manufacture it.

“I believe we are well positioned to expand our share of the fabrication and general engineering market,” Carolin concluded.

Cost savings are achieved through the extension of useful pipeline life, resulting in a return on investment within five years, and an actual lining life of ten years or more.

Although the use of abrasion resistant linings is common in mines worldwide, Redline’s manufacturer, Urethane Moulded Products (UMP), claims its own product to be unique because of its engineered properties.

Redline is characterised by an excellent chemical resistance, and by a monolithic composition that delivers a low coefficient of friction even after wear sets in.  This reduces energy consumption and pumping costs, and contributes to a lowest possible cost per ton of mined ore.

Hydrolytically stable and exhibiting excellent cut and tear resistance, Redline will not shatter or crack, and is unaffected by water hammer and temperature changes.

The product is suitable for process plant mill and flotation reticulation, tailings disposal lines, pipe and box launders, sand or gravel washing plants, cyclone underflow pipes, wet ash disposal lines at power stations, and for various applications in pulp, paper and sugar mills.

Redline has been applied to more than 200 kilometres of southern African pipes since the product was developed in the late 1980s, including some 2300 pipe lengths making up the 7 kilometres of backfill tailings pipes at Zambia’s Konkola Deep mine.

Rebranded as UMP Precision Engineering, the company will now supply component parts to UMP’s complex mouldings division in addition to targeting new business in the engineered components and general fabrication markets.

Announcing the rebranded subsidiary, managing director Trevor Carolin said that its fabrication capability would complement UMP’s traditional emphasis on polyurethane products.

“We have expanded fabrication machinery to include plate rollers, bending presses, ring rollers and plasma cutters,” said Carolin.

“On the engineering side, we have the capability to target a mix of small, medium and large enterprises looking for precision engineered components such as flywheels, shafts, stub axles and bearing housings.

“The upgrade and focus on cross-selling between the two customer bases has doubled subsidiary turnover in three months,” he said.

Carolin explained that there is a good fit between the subsidiary and its parent company, UMP, where the scope of polyurethane supply has been steadily broadened to include rubber-lined, ceramic and fibreglass products, as well as urethane-steel composites.

“A complex moulding two years ago would have entailed the customer supplying steel inserts for the polyurethane,” Carolin continued, “whereas today these inserts are fabricated, machined and drilled at UMP Precision Engineering, then cast with a specific urethane at UMP before being rubber lined, bolted, assembled and crated ready for delivery to site.

“We have become a one-stop source of supply for everything from moulded pipe sections to complex mouldings and wear linings in rubber and ceramics, as well as urethane compounds.

“I estimate that up to 40 percent of UMP’s turnover will come from non-urethane products by the end of this year, excluding turnover from UMP Precision Engineering,” Carolin concluded.

The new machine, one of the most sophisticated yet installed in South Africa, will be applied to the development of new products specific to wear applications in mining and general industry, and parts for process equipment.

It has an output capacity of between 5 and 42 kg/min.

Cast polyurethanes are high performance polymers characterised by elasticity combined with exceptional toughness, tear resistance and abrasion resistance.  A vast number of formulations can be drawn upon for any specific application, provided that the correct machine is available for mixing and dispensing.

UMP sales manager, Santosh Gunpath, explained that the Baulé would facilitate large component or sheet casts of polyurethanes having a quick gel (setting) time, which mix-and-pour hand-casting techniques are unable to process.

“The aesthetic quality of polyurethane castings resulting from the Baulé is also vastly superior, while maintaining the necessary fit-for-purpose qualities,” Gunpath said.  “This is important for UMP’s commitment to overall product quality.”

UMP managing director Trevor Carolin explained that the machine could accurately mix formulations with a curative component of just 2½ percent.

“This places our capability in a different league from polyurethane companies who rely on hand mixing, because it is not possible to accurately measure and mix, for example, just 25 grams of curative in a one-kilogram cast,” Carolin said.

The Baulé also dispenses a homogenous mix that is completely airless, with successive moulds of exactly the same quality as the first one.

“This applies even when using formulations with short gel times,” Carolin added.

UMP sales manager Santosh Gunpath appealed to the market to approach UMP with any applications for which hand-mixed polyurethanes had proved ineffective.

“The new Baulé is particularly suited to very large mouldings such as those involved with mine flotation equipment,” Gunpath said.

“Even if we don’t yet have a product that matches the problem, tell us what the problem is so that we can develop a formulation that does,” he concluded.

The rollers support the scrubber responsible for run-of-mine ore preparation.

Extremely short roller life after plant commissioning in 2008 led management to approach UMP directly with a request to address the problem by developing a formulation that could increase roller life and prevent sudden failures.

To meet the requirement, UMP made use of technology perfected during development of its non-pneumatic tyre range.

This technology, which brings an increased load-bearing capability to the end product, involves a family of compounds characterised by short gelling times, and therefore involves a rapid pour into the mould.

For the Letseng rollers, these pours were facilitated by a dispensing machine installed at UMP late last year to deliver an air-free polyurethane mix for quick-gelling castings of up to 900kg.

The six new rollers, each designed to carry a load of 26 tons while rotating at 72 revolutions per minute, were delivered and installed at the diamond mine in July.

After running trials of three months, mine management reported that they were performing above expectation, and thanked UMP for taking ownership of the problem and developing a long-term solution in a relatively short space of time.

Letseng is the fifth diamond mine to which UMP has supplied rollers incorporating a polyurethane formulation tailored specifically to the requirements of the scrubbing plant.

UMP also supplied the rollers for Letseng’s first scrubber, in 2003.

Among the first of their type to be made available to the South African market, the

new bends are manufactured with an external rubber jacket, inside which is housed a series of flexible high alumina ceramic or hard metal segments.

This unique segment configuration differs from standard pipe lining in that it does not make use of glues or epoxies, allowing the jacket to provide the stability and rigidity necessary for the segments to do their job.

The selection of either ceramic or metal is dependant on the application, size and length of the bend.  Metal segments are typically used for sliding and impact abrasion, while high alumina ceramic is used in extreme sliding abrasion applications.

UMP’s new bends deliver the degree of flexibility and vibration usually associated with hose, but additionally feature a high resistance to wear at high temperatures (180 deg C) and pressures.

They are aimed at abrasive plant applications which are subjected to minor movement and vibration, where rigid piping is unsuitable, and where the rubber hoses typically used in these applications offer little wear resistance.

Cyclone feed lines would be one example, but the bends could be used in any application involving abrasive, high velocity slurries.

Maintenance crews are likely to find an additional application for the new bends as part of a spares inventory, where they can be used in diverter valve and expansion joint applications.

UMP’s flexible bends are offered in diameters of 20 to 150mm for the metal type, and 50 to 100mm for the ceramic version.

They are available with a variety of standard flanges for easy incorporation into existing plant piping systems.

The new, R4-million order placed on UMP follows successful lining by the specialist polyurethanes company of seven kilometres of pipe for the backfill tailings installation, Konkola Phase One.

Phase Two pipelining comprises 5526 metres of straight and bent pipe in nominal bores of 80mm, 100mm and 125mm.  Section lengths vary between 1m and 9,144m.

As with Phase One, the lining medium is UMP’s proprietary Redline polyurethane formulation, designed to deliver a minimum pipe life of ten years.

The low coefficient of friction of Redline lowers the cost of pumping the tailings.  It also reduces energy consumption and lowers the cost per ton of mined ore.

UMP uses two pipe-spinning ovens to line a maximum of 30 sections per day, with each section put through strict quality inspection and verification after lining, including numbering and recording of each pipe in the tailings line.

The Phase One development at Konkola Copper Mines gave access to mineral reserves at a depth of 1350m, extending the life of the mine to beyond 2030.

Phase Two will see the continued development of the new shaft complex to the design depth of 1500m.

UMP was the first company in South Africa to successfully line backfill pipes when work was completed for the President Steyn Mine in the Free State in 1980.

This led to several subsequent orders for backfill pipe-lining at other mines, including Vaal Reefs, where pipes lined with Redline in 1990 are only now beginning to show signs of wear after 20 years.

The product is suitable not only for lining pipes both straight and bent, but also pipe fittings such as laterals, T-pieces and reducers.

Other applications for Redline include pipes in process plant mills, flotation reticulation, pipe and box launders, cyclone underflow systems, power generation plants, sand or gravel washing plants, and pulp, paper and sugar mills.

The result is competitive advantage through improved product performance in the face of price-cutting by importers of foreign valves and pumps.

This consultative approach comes from Urethane Moulded Products, a long established Edenvale-based producer of high-performance polyurethanes for mining and industry.

Experienced engineers from UMP first investigate the application to gain an understanding of the requirement, then use modern elastomer technology to define and produce a specific blend of polyurethane to meet it.

UMP managing director, Trevor Carolin explained that there was a growing realisation among valve and pump manufacturers that polyurethanes could substantially extend useful product life, resulting in superior cost effectiveness.

“The current focus is on liners to make pump and valve bodies last longer, because the bodies constitute the most expensive parts,” explained Carolin.

An example of UMP’s consultative approach may be found in a new knife-gate valve currently undergoing user trials in mining slurry applications.

Here, the valve manufacturer acknowledged the very good seal that polyurethane was likely to form with the valve blade, and commissioned UMP to develop a bonded polyurethane lining that would serve as an integral part of the knife-gate mechanism.

To avoid the cost of new moulds for trial valve body castings, UMP machined steel from existing valve bodies and made a temporary mould for the polyurethane insert replacements.

“Successful trials will lead to ongoing production at UMP, because the demand for this type of valve is substantial,” Carolin predicted.

“This is likely to become the third partnership we have formed with local valve manufacturers.”

Turning to the pumps market, Carolin said that the use of polyurethanes in pumps for the local market had slowed in recent years because of the supply by unscrupulous local companies of inferior blends.

This was in contrast to, for example, Australia where polyurethane impellers and body linings are widely used.

“Taking for instance the case of a polyurethane impeller, its price is higher than that of steel, so that the supply of inferior blends has led South African manufacturers to perceive that the cost does not justify the life of the part,” explained Carolin.

He said that it was important to grasp that different chemistries would produce different materials with different properties, and emphasised that UMP had the knowledge and the capacity to develop and deliver the correct type of long-wearing polyurethane for any specific application.

“We have invested in equipment that can blend and dispense the substantial volumes required for large polyurethane parts, and we claim a rigid business ethic.

“We take the approach that we will be quite clear to the customer as to what we are going to offer him, and we will not compromise on the quality he wants just to meet his price constraints,” Carolin concluded.