CRUSHING AND SCREENING
Weir drives comminution performance through advanced wear technology and aftermarket optimisation Weir’s roll-out of premium ESCO ® crusher liners and ENDURON ® screen media panels across Africa is helping mines improve wear life, reduce maintenance frequency and increase plant availability. As operators place greater emphasis on maximising throughput while lowering operating costs, aftermarket optimisation is becoming an increasingly important contributor to comminution performance.
Weir’s expanded ENDURON screen panel facility is increasing capacity, reducing lead times and supporting growing demand across Africa.
A ccording to Natalie Makhanya, Weir’s Aftermarket Manager for Comminution in EMEA, both product ranges have consistently demonstrated their ability to perform across widely varying ore types and operating conditions. “Where customers are dealing with highly abrasive applications, we have been able to extend crusher liner changeout cycles to four to six weeks, while in less demanding environments liner life can extend to four to six months,” Makhanya says. “ENDURON screen media has shown similarly impressive results. In high wear feed impact zones, changeout intervals typically range between two and four weeks, while dewatering applications can achieve wear life of between 12 and 24 weeks.” The extended wear life translates directly into higher equipment availability, lower maintenance costs and more predictable shutdown planning. Fewer maintenance interventions also improve safety by reducing personnel exposure during liner and screen media replacement. “African mining operations are increasingly recognising that aftermarket optimisation is a strategic tool for improving plant performance and long-term operating efficiency,” she says. Engineering solutions around real operating conditions Makhanya explains that achieving these gains
extends well beyond selecting harder wear materials. Weir’s approach combines wear analysis, application engineering, operational data and global technical expertise to optimise each application. This was demonstrated at an iron ore reprocessing operation in South Africa’s Thabazimbi region, where historic iron ore waste dumps are processed for the steelmaking value chain. “We originally supplied the crushing and screening plant in 2022 with crushers fitted with standard liners,” she explains. “Once operations commenced, the material proved significantly more abrasive than anticipated.” Working closely with the customer and ESCO engineering teams in the United States, Weir embarked on a six month optimisation programme involving multiple liner designs, ore characterisation studies and detailed wear pattern analysis using liner scanning technology. The work ultimately resulted in the selection of a 25% manganese ESCO® liner design that doubled liner life from two weeks to four weeks. The optimisation extended beyond metallurgy. Engineers refined liner geometry to match site-specific wear profiles while benchmarking performance against comparable applications in Central Asia, Turkey and the Middle East. Moisture variations within reclaimed ore stockpiles were also factored into the final design, as wetter,
Natalie Makhanya, Weir’s Aftermarket Manager for Comminution in EMEA.
JD Singleton, Comminution Director EMEA at Weir.
22 MODERN MINING www.modernminingmagazine.co.za | OCTOBER 2026
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