Quest Qualitas' participation at 2013 MENA Mining Show in Dubai highlights evolution of emerging market opportunities for leading Dubai-based East African equipment specialist
The investment opportunities of East Africa's flourishing mining sector was the focus at the recent 2013 MENA Mining Show. Participating at the event, Dubai-based Quest Qualitas, the leading regional heavy equipment supply and services specialist, highlighted the Sudan as a market with great development potential.
“The opportunities for companies looking to enter East Africa are extremely exciting right now with Sudan's untapped gold reserves alone are tipped to earn the country in excess of US$4 billion per annum. Boosting production capacity by twice the existing level, is clearly creating investor interest and this is where Quest Qualitas and its operational partners play a vital role, by enhancing near and onsite operational capability and efficiency,” said Zahir Elsayed, CEO, Quest Qualitas.
Sudan forecasts it will produce 50 tonnes of gold this year, making it the third largest producer in Africa behind South Africa and Ghana, but more crucially, it could have the continent's largest reserves of gold. The government has issued 600 mining contracts and the ‘gold rush' has seen the number miners increase to well over 250,000, many of which are ‘independent' miners.
The Dubai-headquartered company, which has branch offices in Khartoum and other key East African locations, continues to push ahead with its expansion plans across the African continent and also invited eight of its top clients to network with industry experts and regional investors at the high profile two-day event.
Mohamed Abdelhamied COO, Quest Qualitas delivered a comprehensive presentation to a packed seminar theatre, on the opening day of the show, featuring Quest Qualitas-Atlas Copco mining solutions and their various market applications, which was well received. On the second day, Business Line Manager for Mining and Rock Excavation, Ghandi Ahmed, gave an informative presentation about the recently launched FlexiROC D65 Drill which improves productivity and flexibility for large-scale production work.
“We have already received a great deal of interest from new and existing customers,” said Ahmed, “This is the most versatile drill of its kind on the market today,” he added.
Quest Qualitas, which is certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001, also held a prize draw for visitors to their stand. Hossein Asgarzadeh, Director of Iran Mineral Processing Research Centre, was one of the lucky winners who walked away with a VIP pass for the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix.
As the top performing global dealer for international machinery giant Atlas Copco, and its exclusively appointed dealer for Sudan and other East African countries, Quest Qualitas' growing network of mining company partners includes RedRock Holding Sudan, one of its hosted clients at the MENA mining show.
“We are also exploring opportunities in gold and preparing to enter this lucrative market. This will boost our overall revenues, which currently stand at US$500,000 per annum, to around US$1 billion by 2015,” said Hisham Taha, Chairman of the Board, RedRock Holding.
“With plans to double the size of our mining operation, we identified multiple opportunities at the show as part of the Quest Qualitas delegation. At present we have 40 advanced mining machines, for which Quest Qualitas handles all our maintenance and spare parts needs, and we want to increase this to 100 by 2015, so these partnerships are an essential part of our growth strategy,” he added.
RedRock Holding currently mines around 500,000 tonnes of iron plus Gold is the issue here not iron ore per year, with plans to double this within the next 24 months. The company is also looking to similar growth in its chrome mining operation, which currently nets 10,000 tones per annum. It is also responsible for 80% of Sudan's gypsum ore mining, and aims to increase capacity from 120,000 to just under a quarter-of-a-million tonnes in the short-term.
Additional Quest Qualitas customers, such as Advanced Mining Works Company and Sudamin, a new start-up funded by the Sudanese government, provides mining services, such as transportation, labour, machinery and exploration. The company visited the show to search for additional partners that would further enhance its existing synergy with Quest Qualitas.
“Overall this was an extremely successful debut for Quest Qualitas. We received dozens of enquiries, not only from operators in Africa, but also from Middle East investors and exploration companies,” added Elsayed.