Oilgear digs deep to support South African miners

Oilgear has UK headquarters in Leeds, and Neil English from here will be out there to support the local company Turkey Hydraulics on their Electra mining stand, F19 in Hall 5.

“Oilgear has long been recognised as a leader in variable displacement pumps and has recently invested heavily to develop the new range and to automate production” explained English. The new pumps are designed to excel in mining and other arduous environments: “For instance, we use hydrodynamic bearings rather than ball bearings to reduce cavitation in the hydraulic fluid and the swash plates and associated components are hardened to reduce wear, even when operating with low viscosity fluids.”

“These design details mean the pumps will be ultra-reliable, a key requirement in mining industries where repair and servicing are so difficult,” English added.

He also said that price is also important, so we have to be competitive. “We also have to be able to offer high levels of support, including some high performance problem solving.”

Oilgear has been synonymous with high-performance fluid power solutions for almost 100 years. It manufactures a full range of robust pumps, cartridge valves, subsea pressure control solutions and electrical embedded controllers. Additionally, Oilgear is a worldwide provider of complex fluid power control systems.

English added: “Machinery breakdowns in a mine could have an immediate impact on profitability, so between Oilgear and Turnkey we have a number of solutions on offer. We have become experts at repairs to an extensive range of equipment and systems, and if a part is not available we will endeavour to reverse engineer a replacement very quickly.”

As a truly global organisation, Oilgear has manufacturing plants and service centres on every continent.

Turnkey Hydraulics has been a leader in African fluid power engineering for over 30 years and is renowned for its innovative and advanced hydraulics solutions. It offers state of the art equipment which can be supplied as individual components or as part of bespoke integrated systems and is always working to extend its technical expertise.

English concluded: “South African mining has had a tough couple of years, but all the signs are that investment is starting again, so the launch of our new pumps is timely.”