Demand for overland conveyors in South Africa has increased in recent years, and the nature of the new demand has called for a different approach to the supply of a conveyor system's most expensive component: the belt. Coal has been mined in South Africa for over 150 years and this time has seen many major changes in mining methods. The most recent fundamental changes in attitudes towards coal mining in South Africa, however, happened during the 1990s. It was during the 1990s that South Africa experienced major social and political change, leaving behind the apartheid years and emerging as a significant player on the world stage. Before this change, coal mines were placed in one of three categories: Eskom, export and domestic. Each mine produced coal for one of these three markets, which resulted in some saleable coal being left in the ground. The 'revolution' in attitude that took place was the adoption of the fundamental premise that all coal should be mined and sold profitably. This has led to an increased demand for more, and longer, overland and underground conveyors, as well as critical shaft or trunk conveyors. Further increasing demand is the expansion of mining activity to reserves found around the original mine workings. It is often the case that, while mining takes place in an area, exploration continues around it, and these newly found reserves, once mined, must be transported to existing processing plants, again requiring more, and longer, overland conveyors.
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