Landing in South Africa, the New Sunward Rock Drilling Tools Delivered to the Customer

By: Meng Fanjie

Photo: Yi Ang, Zeng Guanlin, omnimedia reporters of Hunan Daily

Recently, the new Sunward down-the-hole drilling rig SWDE165B has finally landed in South Africa after drifting across the sea for about a month. After installing safety configurations in response to the local mining requirements, SUNWARD SOUTH AFRICA (subsidiary of Sunward) and its dealer,AZIZE EQUIPMENT officially delivered the equipment to the customer.

SWDE165 is the flagship model of mining rock drilling rigs in the South African market. Based on feedback from previous users and on-site usage, Sunward R&D team has made many improvements on the original foundation, making the new model SWDE165B more stable in performance, lower in fuel consumption, simpler in operation, and more convenient in maintenance. It is reported that the equipment was already booked by the customer before arrival, and the dealer has also booked another 6 Sunward rock drilling rigs.

(Sunward South Africa handover ceremony on the site of the user)

(Renewal signing ceremony between SUNWARD SOUTH AFRICA and dealer-AZIZE EQUIPMENT)

The CEO of AZIZE EQUIPMENT stated that the power supply situation in South Africa is extremely poor in recent years, and Sunward rock drilling equipment serves many large coal mines in the area, playing a crucial role in the coal supply to local power plants. Local coal mine users are very satisfied with the reliability and after-sales service of the drilling rigs. At the same time, Sunward also continuously improves the equipment, strengthens personnel and accessory support. With the increasing demand for mining equipment in South Africa and the neighboring mining countries such as Tanzania and Zambia, they are confident in the steady development of Sunward in the southern African market.

It is reported that Sunward officially decided to enter the South African market in 2019, and set up a South African subsidiary at the beginning of the outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic in 2020. In the past three years, South Africa has experienced several outbreaks of the epidemic, which has greatly affected the business operation of the company. Nevertheless, Sunward still insisted on dispatching personnel to provide support services to agents and customers in South Africa at all times. With the efforts of sales and service engineers, as well as the support of the agents, the South African market has maintained stable growth. Mining equipment such as 95-ton excavators and various models of down-hole drills are highly popular. At present, the number of Sunward equipment in large mines in South Africa has reached dozens, with a value of over 100 million, with local foreign clients accounting for over 90%.

In Aug 2023, the BRICS SUMMIT will be hold in South Africa, where the leaders of the BRICS countries will reunite in South Africa and discuss the cooperation and development topics between members and in the world. 2023 is also the 25^th year from the establishment of China-South Africa diplomatic relations.Therefore, it will be very good opportunity for Sunward in South Africa in 2023.

With China's strengthened layout of overseas mining resources and the accelerated development of globalization of construction machinery, the export of Sunward mining equipment such as rock drilling rigs and mining excavators have also grown rapidly. In the future, Sunward will seize the opportunity to promote Chinese construction machinery brands to the world with high-performance products and high-quality services.