ME Electmetal, a Chile-based global mining supplier, has acquired South Africa’s Prima Foundry in Benoni, aiming to tap into the country’s growing mining potential. Eduardo Munoz, Group Head of International Business, highlighted the strategic expansion driven by the electric vehicle boom and green economy. He praised South Africa’s investment climate, improving loadshedding, and technical expertise at the foundry, emphasizing job retention and plans to export globally.
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Summary of the interview
ME Electmetal, a global mining supply company based in Chile, has acquired the PRIMA Foundry located in Benoni, South Africa, recognising the country’s potential as an investment destination in the mining sector. Eduardo Munoz, the Group Head of International Biznews told Biznews in an interview that the acquisition aligns with ME Electmetal’s strategic objectives to expand globally amid the rising demand driven by the electric vehicle revolution and the green economy. This economy will according to Munoz provide the mining industry with new opportunities. Elec Metal, he said was encouraged by South Africa’s drive for investment and the improvement of loadshedding, calling it “encouraging news for a new foreign investor.” He expressed optimism about South Africa’s future and said he was pleased by technical skills the company had found at the Benoni Foundry that would be known as EMEA Electmetal PRIMA. The first step would be to bring the foundry into full production and the company was planning to export the PRIMA’s products globally. Munoz reassured stakeholders that job retention is a priority. – Linda van Tilburg
Edited transcript
Linda van Tilburg (00:04.809)
Global mining supply company ME Electmetal, headquartered in Chile, has formalised its purchase of one of Africa’s leading foundries, the PRIMA Foundry in Benoni in Gauteng in South Africa. ME Electmetal has a 107 -year history in the mining industry with sales in over 40 countries. And with me in the business studio is Eduardo Munoz to discuss the decision. Well, hi, Eduardo. Thanks so much for joining us.
Linda van Tilburg (00:49.003)
Chile is a mining entity of note. What made you go after this asset?
Eduardo Munoz (00:57.582)
The mining industry at a global level is growing and it’s based on the EV revolution and the green economy. The transition into the new economy is generating a lot of investment in the mining industry. Africa and South Africa have a lot of potential for providing those commodities. So that aligns very well with the ME Electmetal’s strategy to be a global player in the mining industry. South Africa with significant infrastructure and industrial capacities and knowledge and excellent people has an excellent platform for us to keep growing into our footprint, a global footprint that already as you say includes Chile but it’s also including the US, China and Zambia also.
Linda van Tilburg (02:11.041)
So, Zambia is the other African countries you are invested in?
Eduardo Munoz (02:15.084)
Yes, that’s right. That’s right. Yes, we came there a few years ago. We put a grinding media plant in Zambia. So, it is a different investment than here, which is a foundry for castings.
Linda van Tilburg (02:29.729)
It’s always nice to hear that an overseas company is interested in investing in South Africa. Do you think South Africa is becoming an attractive investment destination again?
Eduardo Munoz (02:41.89)
Well, indeed, I mean, we’ve been very pleased to hear about the drive for investment and for economic growth in South Africa, for both the progress of the country and its people. That is obviously very, very encouraging. The recent improvements in load shedding are also positive news for a new foreign investor. We feel optimistic about the future, and South Africa is a great country with plenty of talented people and opportunities for growth.
Linda van Tilburg (03:29.473)
Do you think it will also strengthen the local mining industry in South Africa?
Eduardo Munoz (03:34.69)
Indeed. This transition to a new economy is providing numerous opportunities for the mining community, and we are part of that community as suppliers to the mining industry. I believe this new vision of the world transitioning into a green economy offers the mining sector exciting new opportunities to contribute.
Linda van Tilburg (04:15.617)
So how will you incorporate the new foundry that you’re getting in Benoni into your global operations?
Eduardo Munoz (04:24.546)
Well, it’s been fascinating over these first couple of days. We’ve been talking to the people, explaining what is this ambition that we have and they have been very welcoming and there’s been plenty of discussions, but all of those have been very encouraging. We’ve also have approached the local customer base here in South Africa to explain what this is all about to provide them with the certainty that we are going to continue serving them as PRIMA has done for 88 years with supreme quality and with an approach to customers that is very close. That fits extremely well with the way Electmetal has been working for107 years. I think, our companies will integrate very well.
Linda van Tilburg (05:27.351)
Are you going to preserve local identity and workforce culture? How would you integrate that into what you are used to dealing with?
Eduardo Munoz (05:36.558)
Well, I think it’s a matter of how we leverage both. There are complementary skills. There’s plenty of in-depth knowledge here in South Africa, particularly in terms of metallurgical expertise. We are very encouraged by what we found in its people. I think they will be integrating very well with what Elec Metal does elsewhere. So, PRIMA will be contributing with the talented pool of individuals and skills and quality castings that they produce. We will continue to serve, hopefully very well, our customers here in South Africa. But we also are planning to use these PRIMA products, quality products to export them into the South African community, also elsewhere to the US and many other countries. We are, as you say, at the beginning, we have sales in more than 40 countries around the world and all of them are eager to have quality products from Elec Metal.
Linda van Tilburg (06:55.208)
Are you planning to expand the PRIMA Foundry?
Eduardo Munoz (07:01.164)
Well, our first challenge is to bring PRIMA to full production and that will take a little bit of time. But indeed, there are plans to, once we get to that point, which I think it will take probably a year, a couple of years, then we are certainly prepared to undertake expansion plans and take it to a maximum level, given the considerations and the footprint that the plant has here in Benoni.
Linda van Tilburg (07:34.465)
What would the new leadership look like?
Eduardo Munoz (07:39.586)
The pool of talented individuals that we have found is really fantastic. I wouldn’t say a surprise because we very highly respect the South African people but it has definitely meant that we have decided to continue with the management as it is, probably integrate that into what Elec Metal can contribute, primarily by the mere fact that we now have five foundries in different parts of the world with similar challenges that enables Elec Metal to benchmark their capacities and their operations and their practices and that is a continuous flow of information, exchange of data and comparisons that enables us to go for continuous improvement practices that we have used for many, many years and now we see PRIMA or we call now EMEA ELECMETAL PRIMA integrating very well in the Elec Metal community.
Linda van Tilburg (08:59.713)
Can I just say that we are really happy that you are showing this confidence in South Africa.
Eduardo Munoz (09:09.606)
I think we are very pleased to come to South Africa. That has been something that has been in the cards for many, years and this is something that we were looking after. Certainly, what we see now is that we will be adding and contributing to the community here in Benoni and moreover in South Africa. We are very respectful for the highly technical skills that we have found and we think that it’s a good platform both for people and also for suppliers of a family like ours that we can probably export their products elsewhere in the world.
Linda van Tilburg (
In South Africa, people are always worried when a new international company like yours comes to the country that there would be job losses, but is there opportunity for growth here?
Eduardo Munoz (11:06.413)
Most certainly, think the nice thing about this integration of PRIMA into the Elec Metal community of foundries is that we don’t have any previous operations in the country. So, everyone in the company today is going to continue with work as it is. I think in terms of job retention, that’s a very good starting point, but I think we also expect to have job creation through expansions that we have referred to previously. We think that we are going to bring more customers into PRIMA and that will mean inevitably that we will need to work with more people. In our principles, it is very important that we contribute to the local community and the community engagement and also the principles that you have established here of Black Economic Empowerment is something that fits very nicely in our values and vision and mission.
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