CDC now the dominant force in dust suppression for collieries
Dust Buster News

Colliery Dust Control (CDC) of Springs has in the short space of three years established itself as the undisputed dominant force in South Africa in dust suppression equipment for underground collieries.

The company has made great strides in developing, supplying and supporting a range of equipment for use on continuous miners and road headers that fully meets the stringent minimum dust count requirements laid down by the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs (DME).

It has achieved this with its integrated system in which three forms of dust suppression - comprising a CDC wet fan scrubber box, water-powered air movers and a spray fan system - operate in combination and in complementary fashion.

Backed up by sound product support and maintenance, together with the implementation by collieries of optimal mine ventilation and mining practices, the CDC integrated system consistently performs at the many collieries where it is in use well within the limit of 5 mg/cu m as set down by the DME.

CDC is the first supplier of dust suppression equipment in South Africa to meet this requirement - as recent tests conducted by an independent authority under actual working conditions have proven.

"We have achieved this milestone in a relatively short time through steady and continuous development of our products to peak levels of efficiency," says CDC's general manager Bob Johnstone.

"At the same time we have put in place all the necessary support infrastructure to ensure that the equipment is properly and fully maintained and that parts are always available and supplied to users at short notice so that a minimum of downtime is incurred.

"We have also been extremely successful in enhancing our products as well as introducing all the essential backup support at an affordable cost to our customers."

As a result the company has greatly expanded its customer base and doubled its annual turnover in the past three years.

In addition to enhancing the quality and performance of its products, it has also greatly extended the range of its products in line with market requirements. "For example in the case of our core product, our wet fan scrubber box, we now offer five models, with air volumes ranging from 5,5 cu m/sec to 16,0 cu m/sec, compared with just two models on offer three years ago," said Johnstone.

The company's range of product support services include a 24-hours-a-day seven-days-a-week maintenance and repair service, a service exchange scheme and a contract maintenance scheme.

"We are now well and truly a one-stop-shop for meeting all requirements for dust suppression in underground collieries," said Johnstone.