Africa

Mining has been a part of life in the Norilsk area since the 1920s, during which time the seeds were sown for what would become a lucrative industry for the region and Russia as a whole over the course of the subsequent century. It was in 1935 that the government of the USSR created the Norilsk Combine and 1943 that Norilsk managed to produce an annual total of 4000 tonnes of refined nickel, before hitting its target figure of 10,000 tonnes just two years later in 1945.

While for much of its 161 year history Liberia has been a stable and productive democracy, recent decades have seen the country plagued by civil war and adversely affected by the drying up of foreign investment. Nevertheless, the current government of Liberia, led by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, is determined to lead the country into a new age of economic growth.

Founded in 1987, the Time Mining Group employs almost 400 staff and operates principally under the names of Time Mining and Processing Pty Ltd., Performance Laboratories Pty Ltd., Time Mining (Ghana) Limited and Dump and Dune Drillers Pty Ltd.

In addition to providing process plant design, project management and commissioning and optimisation services for minerals processing plants, the group also delivers analytical services, and commercial and on-site laboratories, through their Performance Laboratories entity.

Boasting a national footprint in South Africa, with transport depots in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Tzaneen, Imperial Logistics Refrigerated Services (ILRS) today exists as South Africa’s ‘first to market’ service provider.

ChemSystems has been a fixture of the chemicals industry for over five decades. Sales director, Laurence Davies, and business development manager, Charles Du Bois, discuss how the company is now making a name for itself in the oil and gas sector.

CEO Bruce Griffin talks about the potential of a highly expandable, high-grade mineral sands project in Madagascar.

World Titanium Resources is developing the Toliara Sands Project in southwest Madagascar. Initial exploration work was carried out in 1999, leading to the discovery of mineral sands at Ranobe and further north at Ankililoaka, Basibasy and Morombe. Further drilling was undertaken in the next few years and it became clear that the area had the potential to become a significant mineral sands development.

Managing director Alan Wood describes the progression from the supply of hydraulic hoses to inspection services that save downtime and costs for mining operations in Africa.

Nobody’s perfect. What quality or ability do you wish you had?

I am beginning to realise that I ought to use patience as a strategy more often than I do. My tendency is towards driving change and making things happen now. I feel that companies must develop long-term sustainability and therefore must be driven by a long-term vision and strategy. Therefore, there are things that leadership needs to do which doesn’t often have an immediate short-term result and requires planning and patience in the execution.

Chief executive officer Tony Sofianos explains how, with the oil and gas industry stretching across the globe more than ever before, companies like Wings Travel Management have never been more important to their customers.

Renowned for the provision of high quality, high performance business technology solutions, BCX aims to earn 30 percent of its revenue outside South Africa by 2016.