Kuka to construct 16 kilometre aerial carriage ropeway in Steelpoort

STEELPOORT

Kuka Mining Logistics (Kuka) plans to soon start with the erection of a 16km aerial carriage ropeway from the Dwarsrivier Valley to the farm Spitskop 333KT.

The farm is located 20 kilometres south of Steelpoort in the Limpopo Province. The construction period will be approximately 12 months and it will have a capacity to transport ±100 000 ton of chrome ore per month.

According to the company’s managing director Louis van der Walt, this will be one of their biggest projects in recent years

“Whilst numerous of such installations were built in the previous eras, this will be the first such longropeway in modern times.

“This project is wholly funded by public institutions and its trigger was to address public safety due to excessive road traffic around the mines in the Steelpoort Valley,” said the managing director.

He revealed that  Kuka will be the designated operator of the aerial ropeway and Rula Bulk Materials Handling has been appointed as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction entity for this project.

“Although this is a high-technology installation the implementation philosophy focuses on maximum localization. For this reason, the bulk of the ropeway equipment is manufactured in South Africa with the commitment to employ most of the workforce and operational personnel from the local communities in Steelpoort .”

Among the company’s recent projects is an array of international assignments with a specific focus on developing areas.  In this sense, the ropeway technology could be quite beneficial in addressing community’s needs for transport infrastructure.

For technical enquiries, the engineer can be contacted at theunis@kukaropeways.com.  With regards to commercial and employment opportunities, interactions with the local community forums via the established structures are to follow in due course.