Truco sinks its teeth into massive export drive

A strong flow of recent orders has meant that Transvaal Rubber Company (Truco) is now focusing on over 70 new mining projects - mostly into Africa - for the supply of rubber hose and sheeting material.

Ranging from a R500 000 order for the supply of mostly long-distance water transfer hose at a Guinea gold mine to several similarly-sized orders for small and large bore hose to be used at Orapa diamond mine's Damtshaa Expansion project in Botswana, the Langer Heinrich uranium mine in Namibia, a refurbishment project at the Namdeb plant in Namibia, Snap lake and Victoria Mines in Canada, the Varvarinskoye copper and gold mine in Kazakhstan and the Moma Titanium Minerals mine in Mozambique, Truco is growing its export success as the result of ongoing relationships established with major players in the mining and project management fields.

"Our delivery times for these orders, which have all been received between July and October 2006, range between 6 weeks and 3 months," says Hose Director, Mike Stuart. "The only cases involving specialised rubber or unique products would be the orders from Kazakhstan and Canada, as a result of the arctic temperatures involved there. I believe we are the only rubber producer and distributor on the continent that can meet such a huge flow of orders, involving such a large variety of products."

In response to the uptake in demand for its products, the rubber specialist has had to extend its Crown Mines and Chamdor warehouses and upgrade its receiving and dispatching areas, allowing for more products to be received and shipped over a shorter timeframe.