Jay Pillay

It is a pleasure to welcome a new member this month and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with PTS Conveyor Idlers (Pty) Ltd who are represented by CEO Gys van der Westhuizen.

Sadly, we also bid farewell to our longest serving member Osborn Engineered Products. Osborn has been a member of the CMA since 1981, in those days producing conveyor idlers. Osborn was a major player at the first CMA working group where the idler standards were set by the manufacturers. This work contributed to the very first national standards
for conveyor idlers, now known as SANS 1313. Due to the lockdown, two members’ meetings and two social events have had to be cancelled so far and it is not looking promising for the third meeting of the year due to be held in June. The Annual Golf Day and the Annual Dinner will be rescheduled for as soon as the appropriate stage of lockdown has been achieved.
Courses
In the meantime, some members are reporting increased activity now that the mining sector has re-started and there is a keen interest in getting the training courses going once again. Among the CMA training courses that have had to be postponed are the Chute Design and the Design Diploma, both of which will be re-scheduled as soon as it is practicable for delegates and trainers. We will keep you posted on the website www.cmasa. co.za, which in itself is worthy of a browse as there is a wealth of information to be had in the technical documents on the site.
Research
Research projects are also listed for post-grads looking to do some research, and the CMA has built two idler rigs that can be used for study purposes. Enquiries in this regard should be addressed to the Secretariat.
Jay Pillay
Chairman