AFRICAN UNDERGROUND MINING SERVICES (AUMS)

AFRICAN UNDERGROUND MINING SERVICES (AUMS)

Africa’s underground mining specialists

AFRICAN UNDERGROUND MINING SERVICES (AUMS)

Onwards and

Upwards AUMS has bucked the African mining trend over the past 12 months, achieving substantial organic growth in a sector on the cusp of a revival Writer: Matthew Staff | Project Manager: Arron Rampling

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mid an Africa mining industry that has challenged the majority of the continent’s protagonists, African Underground Mining Services (AUMS) has once again demonstrated its flexibility, resilience and marketleading status in order to achieve substantial organic growth.

While consolidation has inevitably been par for the course, growth is what the Company has been able to score; largely virtue of its Subika operation’s progression in Ghana (for Newmont Ghana Gold) but also via concerted organic growth at each of its other complimenting sites in Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso and Tanzania.

And now, with this stable if not revolutionary footing to launch from, AUMS is pinpointing the green shoots of potential in the sector over the coming 12 months to fully capitalise on its healthy industry position.

“I definitely think the industry has bottomed out, and the trajectory is now onwards and upwards,” enthuses the Company’s Chief Operating Officer, Blair Sessions.

One year ago, Sessions had emphasised the potential that was available for AUMS as the continent began to come around to a contractormodel way of thinking (as opposed to the owner-operator model it was used to), and with this model now fully trusted and utilised in the region, these intervening 12 months have allowed the Company to prepare for the demand that will come once the sector kicks into gear.

“We have taken the opportunity to take stock, but at no point did we stop or have to tread water. Every month we kept growing organically, while also taking the opportunity to consolidate a few internal aspects, such as equipment,” he explains. “In terms of our contractor model now, I certainly don’t see any negative reactions to it anymore, and the slowdown will have

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Wherever There Is Mining, Mantrac Your Caterpillar Authorised Dealer is There to Support.

Wherever there’s mining, you’ll find Mantrac your Caterpillar authorised dealer in Kenya, Tanzania, Liberia, Egypt, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Iraq and West Siberia, Russia. Cat products are hard at work, drilling and digging, loading and hauling, grading and dozing. And our people are there, to support our products, train operators, help customers mine safely, more profitably and actively participate in the mining industry.

Mantrac offers integrated mining solutions for enhancing efficiency and maximising profitability. With 12 offices, 44 branches spanning across three continents, more than $100 million total parts inventory value, 866 service engineers, 346 field service trucks, and five component rebuild centres (one in Egypt, two in Ghana, one in Nigeria and one in Tanzania) to ensure that your Cat equipment are operating at peak productivity. We offer the Cat range of surface and underground mining products to meet your high production demands and lower your cost per tonne. Our product range includes hydraulic excavators, hydraulic mining shovels, offhighway and underground mining trucks, underground mining loaders, and support equipment.

and supporting them since they first came to Africa, initially in Ghana with various Caterpillar mining and support equipment being supplied to several projects such as the Subika UG mine located in Kenyasi, Paboase Underground located in Chirano, and The Akwaaba Deeps project in Chirano as well, and more recently in Tanzania with several projects on hand such as the Geita Mine in northwestern Tanzania being supplied with underground CAT loaders and trucks. Our support to AUMS goes beyond providing them with equipment to encompass providing on site stock & component inventory, on site field service engineers, on site hose & couplings facilities, a comprehensive component rebuild centre, and last but not least access to our full range of CAT technology solutions and Mantrac’s online parts portal.

We remain committed to providing AUMS with the ultimate support for their equipment for it to operate at peak productivity and performance.

Mantrac is making exceptional headway in the mining sector and is now ranked as one of the largest Caterpillar dealer for mining equipment in Africa and the Middle East.

AUMS is one of Mantrc’s valued customers and we are happy to have been supplying

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www.unatrac.com

Mining Safely. Mining More.

Mining Right.

Mantrac Your Caterpillar Authorized Dealer Mantrac offers integrated mining solutions for enhancing efficiency and maximizing profitability. We offer the CAT range of surface and underground mining products to meet your high production demands and lower your cost per ton. You can therefore acquire all your mining requirements including Hydraulic Excavators, Hydraulic Mining Shovels, Off-Highway and Underground Mining Trucks, Underground Mining Loaders and support equipment from a single source.

CAT Underground Loader R2900G Designed for maximum power and durability in the most demanding underground mining applications, Caterpillar LoadHaul-Dump (LHD) machines deliver the performance you require. Various bucket sizes and configurations are available to match with both truck-loading and ore-pass loading applications. A variety of Ground Engaging Tools, wear plates, and heel shrouds are available to keep buckets productive and reliable even in the most abrasive materials.

CAT Underground Truck AD60 Are the most reliable, productive, and safe trucks. Various body sizes (regular or wide) and configurations (dump or ejector) are available to match with light or dense material. CAT ACERTTM-series engines are used to minimize underground emissions and lower your customer’s mine ventilation costs.

Mantrac Kenya Ltd.

Mantrac Tanzania Ltd. Mantrac Uganda Ltd. Mantrac Nigeria Ltd.

Mansour Complex Plot no 4A, Nyerere Road, Witu Road, off Lusaka Road P.O. Box 9262, Dar es Salaam P.O Box 30067 , Nairobi Tel: +255 22 551 5200 Tel: +254 20 4995300

Unatrac Ltd.

(Mansour House) 188 Bath Road, Slough, Berkshire. SL 1 3GA, United Kingdom Tel: +44(0)1753695555

Plot 17/41, 7th St. Industrial Area P.O. Box 7126, Kampala Tel: +256 312 330 600

2, Billingsway, (Off Secretariat Road) Oregun Industrial Estate, Oregun PMB 21480, Ikeja, Lagos Tel: +234 01 2716300

Mantrac Ghana Ltd.

Mantrac Sierra Leone Ltd.

Ring Road West 6-8 Blackhall Road North Industrial Area P.O. Box 127, Freetown P.O. Box 5207, Accra-North Tel: +232 22 250228 Tel: +233 30 2213777

Liberia Equipment Ltd.

Somalia Drive, Bushrod Island, Monrvoia, Liberia Tel: +231777137646

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JA DELMAS

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he JA Delmas network, Cat® (Caterpillar) dealer in West Africa since 1932, is now proudly represented in 11 different countries, with thanks to its long heritage and commitment to customer excellence and service.

With its slogan ‘Wherever you are’ the Company has built a reputation for quality and this is especially true in West Africa.

Caterpillar has a wide product range that covers the vast majority of your construction, mining and agricultural needs. Currently West Africa is recognised for its expansion into one of the most exciting mining destinations, and subsequently underground mining is also a vital sector in this industry.

facilitated it if anything.

“It’s a great way for companies to establish an operation with low risk capital before moving into production in the years ahead. Most clients are now aware of the benefits we can offer them: we can mobilise quickly, get operations started efficiently, and get the job done.”

Full automation

As testament to the Company’s strong internal growth, and very strong comparable industry growth, 2017 is likely to result in year-on-year revenue growth of around 30 percent, while the employee count will have also risen to around 1,000 personnel by the end of the calendar year.

And as ever, this progression is spread on a continental scale, not just in West Africa where the Company incepted. Tanzania’s Geita operation for AngloGold Ashanti has proved integral to these recent growth figures and AUMS still finds itself in

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Of course, Caterpillar has a longstanding legacy in this domain, offering a wide range of solutions to perfectly respond to mining needs. Apart from the conventional hard rock load-haul dump applications, Caterpillar has also developed solutions for underground coal applications with its Longwall products.

A key initiative for AUMS since its inception in Africa has been not to just hire local when possible but to partner local as well; and one such partner - Ja Delmas - has matched their own philosophies with those of AUMS over the years. West Africa’s CAT dealer has similarly been looking to apply its international expertise on a localised level on the continent and has subsequently aided AUMS’ operations via the ongoing supply of world-class mining equipment, solutions and services.

At JA Delmas, the Company has a dedicated team that relies on close collaboration with its customers to develop customised equipment and support systems to meet their requirements.

The Company’s main focus is to help its customers mine safely and productively Xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx every day, with high quality Cat products built in its facilities around the world. JA Delmas has its eye firmly on the future, looking into new products, new ways of mining and new ways to get the most out of technology. These products and technology solutions are fully supported by its global network.

www.jadelmas.com Xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

The JA Delmas network is proud to celebrate 8 5 y e a r s o f p a r t n e r s h i p w i t h C a t e r p i l l a r.

We t h a n k a l l o u r c u s t o m e r s f o r t h e i r l o y a l t y.

YOUR CAT DEALER IN WEST AFRICA ®

OUR SCOPE OF OPERATIONS · Construction & Infrastructures · Mining · Energy, Manufacturing & Services OUR EXPERTISE · Equipment & Spare Parts · Training · Maintenance Contracts · Technical Consulting & Support · Funding · Used & Rental Equipment · New Technologies OUR NETWORK · Benin · Burkina Faso · Cote d’Ivoire · Gambia · Guinea · Guinea Bissau · Mali · Mauritania · Niger · Senegal · Togo

Visit us on www.jadelmas.com © 2017 Caterpillar | All Rights Reserved. CAT, CATERPILLAR, BUILT FOR IT, their respective logos, “Caterpillar Yellow,” the “Power Edge” trade dress and Product Link, as well as corporate and product identity used herein, are trademarks of Caterpillarand may not be used without permission.

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a positive position in terms of being selective over potential projects and prospective new countries.

“In Tanzania, we started the mine in 2016 and have already expanded and doubled the scope there,” Sessions says. “We’ve carried out a lot of work on our underground projects for AngloGold including the addition of three more portals to the mining operation in 2017.

“Similarly in Burkina Faso with Roxgold there are definite expansion opportunities coming up in the nearterm at the Yaramoko site. Our Subika operation in Ghana for Newmont also has significant growth potential moving forward.”

In optimising both these existing locations and any future opportunities, AUMS has spent the past 12 months addressing process improvement, mainly in the form of automation.

As the biggest step-change in the Africa underground mining space of recent times, the switch from

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semi-autonomous operations to full autonomy is a concerted strategy for many operators in the coming months and years. But for AUMS, that reality is already here.

“We’ve been running a semiautonomous production fleet for a while now like most players in our space, however, the option of full automation is now upon us, and our fleet that we’ve started to roll out onsite has that capability already,” Sessions notes. “All the trucks have semi-autonomous or fully-autonomous operational capability, as do the loaders which we will be rolling out as and when the scope allows at Subika.”

Quick, safe, efficient

In terms of general capital expenditure, US$35 million has been spent over the past 12 months to facilitate opportunities such as that posed by automation, but this is safe in the knowledge that AUMS will be able to strike while the iron is hot once the

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industry picks up in earnest.

Until that point, it will also allow for the Company’s employees to get ahead of the game with the upgraded equipment and trends; training and skills development remaining AUMS’s number one goal in Africa.

“That is still why we’re here in Africa!

We want to remain competitive but through ensuring that we develop the national workforce as quickly and safely and efficiently as possible,” Sessions affirms. “To that end, the new equipment injected into the group will help as far as automation is concerned. And the other big change is digitisation.

“All of the data that this equipment gives you allows people to identify gaps in processes, and to then plug those gaps.”

The unveiling of two new simulators has aided this ongoing ethos, in upskilling and developing the workforce in accordance with the latest industry trends and approaches.

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mining condition in Africa over the coming 12 months.

“I’m seeing it everywhere,” he emphasises. “There are significant opportunities out there now that people are talking about and that will start before the end of the next 12 months. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if I had another project or two to report for AUMS a year from now.”

And when the moment arises, AUMS will be leading the pack, courtesy of its solution portfolio, its productivity, its capacity, its flexibility, and - perhaps most impressively - its safety record.

“Our biggest achievement to underline is that we are now more than three years LTI (lost time injury) free, which is in excess of five million hours without losing any time to an injury,” Sessions continues. “And this time next year I’d want to see that figure turn to four years LTI free and seven million man hours, as the number one focus for us is to look “We are able to provide after the safety of our people.” a quick step-change for Sessions also expects to see clients who want to up production in the mine continued organic growth across thanks to our fleet and current operations over the same people, and this is a timeframe, with a couple of additional massive competitive advantage...” projects a distinct possibility as well, depending on the speed of discussions and approvals.

Of course, it is speed which has made AUMS such an attractive proposition in the first place though: speed of mobilisation, speed of initiation, and speed to production. people in Tanzania die every year due “If we’ve got the equipment and to infected teeth, so an association like people to take on a contract as an this is great in helping to train people so they can set up clinics and carry out immediate start-up then it’s certainly something we look to offer as we have basic dentistry work.” the flexibility to do so. We are able to provide a quick step-change for clients Competitive advantage who want to up production in the mine Ongoing charitable work is also evident across numerous scholarships thanks to our fleet and people, and this is a massive competitive advantage,” and sponsorships of orphanages and schools, giving hope to underprivileged Sessions concludes. “It also allows us to be selective with the projects we areas of society. pick up, ensuring they are of sufficient And speaking of hope, Sessions value to us so that we continue to believes there is plenty of reason for grow ahead of the industry curve.” optimism when evaluating the overall “...we are now more than three years LTI (lost time injury) free, which is in excess of five million hours without losing any time to an injury.”

“There are significant opportunities out there now that people are talking about and that will start before the end of the next 12 months.”

Most importantly though; these areas of automation and digitisation are in place to complement the workforce, not to replace it. Local enrichment of individuals remains one of the key pillars facilitating long-term sustainability for the Company, bringing to mind equally significant notions of corporate social responsibility.

“For example, we have an association with Bridge 2 Aid, an Australian dentistry programme that is rolling out training for locals in Tanzania for them to become dental technicians. It’s amazing how many

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No. 13 Patrice Lumumba Road Airport Residential Area, PMB KIA, Accra, Ghana T: +254 20 272 6999 / 271 9727 F: +254 20 271 9701 E: info@ati-aca.org

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