New Concept Mining, Alberton

Early success came with the introduction of a range of mono-rope equipment that effectively eliminated finger amputations that were commonplace at the time. New Concept Mining became the market leader in the field and supplied all the major Gold and Platinum mines throughout Southern Africa.

From the outset the company’s aim was to provide innovative, quality products to improve safety and productivity in the narrow reef mining industry. During its existence NCM has won Cullinan, Design Institute of South Africa (DISA) and South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) design awards and filed well over 100 patents.

From 1994 the company has been involved in stope support products. Various types of temporary and permanent mine support were developed and launched before the Jackpot range of hydraulic pre-stress devices was launched in September 1997 at the SARES conference. NCM has established itself as the market leader in this field and has focused its efforts on hydraulic pre-stressing devices and associated technology, ceasing production of temporary props, mono-rope equipment and disposing of various other non-core businesses. Continuous re-investment in the business has been made over the years to optimise quality, capacity, service and costs thus providing our customers peace of mind in the critical area of mine support.

Jackpots have been approved by DSK for use in German mines; they are also exported to North and South America, Australia, Fiji, Canada, and the UK. Safety and productivity are at the heart of the universal acceptance of pre-stressing by the mining industry.

Since 1997, economies of scale, value engineering and improvements have resulted in the price of Jackpots decreasing by 20% whilst steel prices have increased by over 100%. New Concept Mining’s willingness to operate at low margins has caused most of our competitors to exit the market.