It is a relationship that has endured as they both remain equally passionate about growing and improving their respective businesses. The role of service has also had a great role to play in the intervening years. "You only have to pick up the phone and Sandro and his team react immediately, something which makes for an excellent professional relationship," says Scott Danoher, chief executive of Danoher Contracting.
An example of how supplier and contractor can work together to deliver real value can be found at a Danoher site situated south of Standerton in Mpumalanga. Danoher Contracting is engaged in a project worth R40m to produce aggregate as a sub-contractor for Roadcrete Africa, a 100% subsidiary of construction and engineering group Basil Read, in a major SANRAL road renovation project.
The site will, on the project's completion, have produced 600,000 tons of G9, G7, G5 and G1 material that will have been used in reconstructing the R23 from Standerton to Greylingstad.
Inside the working area, an impressive train of Sandvik and Pilot Crushtec International equipment crushes and screens dolerite material adding a consistent 82,000 tons per month of rock to Roadcrete Africa's stockpiles.
The production cycle begins with the loading of blasted material into a jaw crusher, which in turn is fed into a cone crusher and then conveyed into a mobile triple deck screen. Oversize material is recycled back to the cone crusher and the -40mm material is fed to the quaternary crusher, Pilot Crushtec's locally-produced TwisterTrac VS350E vertical shaft impact crusher and stockpiled.
An illustration of the cooperation that exists between the two companies is that Danoher Contracting is assisting its supplier in the ongoing development of the new TwisterTrac product. This has yielded significant performance gains in key areas like fuel consumption, which has been reduced to 65 litres per hour while processing up to 400 tons per hour.
"Our goal is based upon the maximum amount of tons we can produce in a year. By using high output machinery, like the new Sandvik heavy-duty crushers and screens, our projects become viable because we can deliver product at a rate in excess of 350 tons an hour," says Royden Webster, director of operations.
Looking to the future, Webster sees continued activity in KwaZulu-Natal, with the possibility of three or four similar road projects on the cards. Towards the end of the year involvement in dam construction is also a definite possibility.
"Mining represents 40% of our business with the balance coming from roads and general infrastructure. Cross border activities remain a major focus of goals moving forward and we have successfully completed projects as far north as Uganda."
