TECHNOLOGY
South Africa takes the lead as global home of Weir’s Enduron ® elite screens
South Africa has cemented its position as a global centre for the production of Weir’s cutting edge ENDURON® Elite banana screens. Backed by major infrastructure investment at Weir’s Alrode facility in Gauteng, this site is now the first in the world dedicated solely to manufacturing this advanced new range.
The new heavy bay screen manufacturing facility at Weir Alrode is now producing the ENDURON Elite double deck banana screens for the Reko Diq order.
T he Alrode expansion adds a further 1,600 m² of dedicated production space under roof, equipped with two 63 ton gantry cranes operating at a clearance height of 18.5 metres, according to Alandré van Vuuren, Integrated Supply Chain Director at Weir. This strategic upgrade was driven by a landmark £53 million contract awarded to Weir by Barrick’s Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan, which includes the supply of fine grinding, separation, and tailings solutions. “The advanced technological capability and rigorous quality assurance at our Alrode plant - together with our robust local and regional supply chain - enabled us to manufacture the first two ENDURON® Elite screens even before completion of the expansion,” says Van Vuuren. “We already had the specialised expertise and equipment in place, including a laser facility capable of cutting the massive 12 m by 5 m side plates. In parallel, we ran a targeted supplier development programme
to further strengthen and empower our local supply partners.” The outcomes of this process were rigorously assessed and audited by both an independent third party and Weir’s own technical team, clearing the way for the expansion which commenced in early 2025. Construction has required substantial earthworks and piling, with excavations reaching two storeys below ground to accommodate the concrete and steel structure of a 1,000 ton plinth. This specialised plinth is engineered to absorb the intense vibration forces generated by the exciters during product testing. The expansion has created two dedicated assembly stations for the high capacity double deck ENDURON® Elite screens – each weighing nearly 50 tonnes, with deck dimensions of up to 4.3 m wide by 8.5 m long. “This expansion marks a significant boost to South Africa’s manufacturing capacity,” he
Alandré van Vuuren, Integrated Supply Chain Director at Weir.
26 MODERN MINING www.modernminingmagazine.co.za | April 2026
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