In January 2012, Hyspec Mining Services achieved the transfer of its workshop at the African Minerals Ltd Tonkolili Mine in Sierra Leone, from a standard container-based layout, to its latest generation workshop with dome shelter. The new workshop is located at the new industrial area at Tonkolili, and has been designed ergonomically to provide plenty of working and storage space for the fabrication of hoses. It is fully fitted with shelves, stock, work benches, state of the art tools for the fabrication of hoses, fittings and adaptors, in a contamination free environment. The workshop operates 24 hours / 7 days a week, and is backed with stock from Hyspec's central warehouse in Australia. Emergency stock can also be supplied from Hyspec's regional warehouses in Ghana, Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.
Hyspec has been operating four container workshops in Sierra Leone since 2011, located at the Sierra Rutile Mine site, Koidu Holdings Diamond Mine, Lunsar Dawnus and African Minerals Tonkolili mine. Hyspec Mining Services is planning to transfer all of its Sierra Leone workshops to newer and larger dome shelter workshops in the course of 2012.
"Through the services that we are providing on site, we have demonstrably helped our customers improve mining equipment uptime and increase production", says Louis Hamman, Hyspec Mining Services General Manager in Sierra Leone. "The new workshop set-up is going to help us improve hose manufacturing conditions at Tonkolili, and services delivered to our customers further. The new set-up provides additional working space, and allows us to work in a cleaner, state of the art professional environment. Our new location in the industrial area of the mine also brings us closer to our main customers, and helps us improve hoses delivery lead time."
Hyspec Mining Services opens a new hose workshop for underground operations at Gara Mine in Mali
In October 2011, Hyspec Mining Services started a new workshop at Gara Mine in Mali. This workshop has been set up to provide round the clock services, exclusively for the African Underground Mining Services (AUMS) underground operations. Hyspec Mining Services was already operating two hose workshops at Loulo, and this will be the third workshop operated by Hyspec on this mine. The addition of this new workshop brings the number of workshops operated by Hyspec in Mali to a total of eleven.
Hyspec will be offering the same type of services, including daily inspection of hydraulic hoses and root cause analysis reports, for the AUMS underground operations that it is providing for equipments working above ground. Hyspec is the only hydraulics company in West Africa with underground competence and expertise, acquired through many years of experience working at underground mines in Ghana and Mali, where its teams work side by side with the mines' production teams to maintain the equipment operating in the underground conditions.
"Operating in an underground environment is quite challenging", says Michel Poisson, General Manager of Hyspec Mining Services in Mali."Maintaining underground mining equipments is extremely difficult because the working conditions are a lot more stressful on the machines, and HSE requirements are a lot tougher. But thanks to our experience in underground operations, we are confident that we will exceed AUMS' expectations. Hyspec has been AUMS' hydraulics partner at Gara for over two years. With the addition of this new workshop, this will be the second mine in Mali where Hyspec team up with AUMS to provide hydraulics services. Despite the fact that there were already existing out station workshops at the Loulo mine, Hyspec Mining Services did not hesitate to invest in a third satellite workshop to be closer to its customer. The addition of this new workshop, dedicated to AUMS, enables us to provide quicker service, and has already demonstrated its positive effect on the reduction of machinery downtime."
Hyspec Mining Services has grown from a small one-workshop-business employing less then ten people in Ghana fifteen years ago, to an international business employing over 200 people in thirteen countries and operating over 55 workshops. This success is due to an innovative business model, to the constant development of new state of the art solutions and services, to a visionary management team with fantastic leadership skills, but not only. Hyspec Mining Services' success is also due to the individuals that it employs and who work hard every day, whether on site or in back-office positions, to ensure that the customers' requirements are met in a timely manner and to their satisfaction. We have therefore decided to introduce one of these individuals in each e-mailer, so that our customers know the people who work hard to please them a little better. In this issue, let us introduce Michael Gyasi Amissah.
Michael, a Ghanaian national, joined Hyspec Ghana in May 2011 as hose technician, in Tarkwa, then Bogoso. After a brief interruption at Mantrac in 2005, he came back to work for Hyspec Mali as workshop supervisor in 2006, until he was transferred to Zambia in February 2010. In January 2012, he was promoted to the position of Project Manager, in charge of managing the Hyspec workshops and customer relations in Zambia.
"My role consists in ensuring that the workshops operated by Hyspec in Zambia are run smoothly to our customers' satisfaction, that there is sufficient stock to cater for their requirements, and to anticipate on customer needs by talking to them on a regular basis and making recommendations whenever possible. What I like most about my job at Hyspec, is to see clients happy for the services rendered to them", says Michael.
"Michael is very dedicated to our customers, and does his best to anticipate their needs and to meet them", says Tommy Bowman, General Manager at Hyspec Zambia."He's very hard working, knows and understands Hyspec's procedures and commitment to provide top quality services, and earned a well deserved promotion. Having worked for many years as a hose technician and having climbed every step of the hierarchy ladder, he understands the technical difficulties of making hoses, and the challenges of managing a workshop on a day to day basis. Hyspec is looking at promoting individuals such as Michael who know the business inside and out, and who show strong dedication to the company and to our customers. We hope to promote many more Michaels in the future."
