After having endured poor demand for new chute installations in the immediate aftermath of the onset of the COVID pandemic, Wadeville-based Weba Chute Systems has seen its order book recover strongly in recent months. While much of the new business is coming from South Africa's mining sector, significant orders have also been received from mines in neighbouring states.

In a compact and congested transfer point area in a Limpopo platinum mine’s screening house, Weba Chute Systems recently applied its transfer point experience to smooth out the operation.

According to Hilton Buys, regional manager at Weba Chute Systems, there had been an ongoing issue with fines spillage and skew belt loading from two conventional chutes.

As part of our corporate social investment strategy, we at WEBA are passionate about investing in the communities where we have our chutes. We are especially excited about empowering the girl child which uplifts communities.

Empowering the girl child to us means, that we believe every girl should be educated, empowered, healthy and free from violence and discrimination.

The handling of bulk materials is frequently plagued by the issue of airborne dust. Increased conveyor belt wear, along with the ensuing downtime and productivity losses, are brought on by a failure to regulate dust.

Larger materials will bounce and roll if a transfer point is not designed correctly, which will lead to belt wear.

Weba Chute Systems’ commitment to transformation, skills development and corporate social investment is rooted in the company’s understanding that the business is not separate from society, but inextricably bound to the fortunes of its employees and the communities in which it operates.

Unimpeded material flow with optimum belt presentation is critical in any materials handling system on a mine. Yet despite this insufficient attention is often paid to transfer point design.

Weba Chute Systems custom engineers each transfer point and in this manner, we are able to provide a chute system designed to take specific operating parameters into account.

Mill feed transfer points and scrubber feed chutes are traditionally considered high wear and high maintenance installations. However, according to Alwin Nienaber, technical director at Weba Chute Systems, says by engineering the transfer point to ensure the correct control of material feed into the mill or scrubber it is possible to significantly reduce wear and tear, and consequently maintenance.

Material transfer problems can be addressed by considering basic chute specifications. This necessitates a thorough knowledge of transfer point design as well as the ability to determine best practice for a specific application and the ability to customise each design accordingly.

When a coal mine in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province needed to replace its high maintenance conventional transfer chutes, it looked to Weba Chute Systems for the best custom-engineered design.

Designer processing 3D laser scan data.

Locally manufactured custom-engineered chute systems are taking the place of older, conventional competitor transfer points in the sinter cooling circuits at a South African steel plant.

According to Dewald Tintinger, technical manager and designer at Germiston-based Weba Chute Systems, the upgrade at the steel plant brings multiple benefits to the operation.