PHOTO: Rare Plastics recently acquired a coiler and completed 4km of 180 C16 pipe in 75m coils, for a local customer

RARE Plastics may just be two years old, but it’s proving to be a serious competitor in the South African HDPE pipe and fittings industry.

To date it has completed a number of substantial contracts in the mining and infrastructure arena for Mopani Copper Mines, Katanga Mining and Konkola Copper Mines. Another significant step was the acquisition recently of a large pipe coiler, with the unit being used to coil 4km of 180 C16 pipe in 75m coils, a first in the local African HDPE pipe sector.

Rare has also recently introduced new three-layer pipe technology.

“Although Rare Plastics was only founded in January 2014, in this short time we have established ourselves as a leading manufacturer of HDPE pipe in the country and the SADC region,” said Rare Plastics’ newly appointed managing director Renier Viljoen.

Rare Plastics is a division of the JSE Alt-X listed and ISO 9001:8001 accredited Rare Group. Renier moved to the factory from his post as chief financial officer of the group earlier this year.

A SAPPMA member, Rare manufactures and distributes all of its HDPE pipes and fittings from its factory in Meyerton, Gauteng. Pipes are manufactured to SANS ISO 4427 standards and sizes range from 110-1000mm.

 

A first in the local industry

The group has also introduced co-extruded (RPC) technology to its product portfolio, aimed at further expanding its range of products used for pipeline rehabilitation. RPC is a three-layer HDPE pipe with a crack resistant inner and outer layer, ideally suited for the rehab of structurally damaged pipelines, using trenchless technologies similar to Rare Plastics lining.

“The crack-resistant layers are made from a special PE100RC polymer and are inseparably extruded,” Viljoen explained.

The RPC technology is primarily suited to South Africa’s ageing water pipeline infrastructure, which can cost-effectively replace old, damaged and leaking pipelines. The RPC pipe’s service life is not affected by surface damage caused during the installation process.

“This lends itself to mining applications as well – and will withstand extremely abrasive slurry materials for five or six times the normal lifespan expectancy,” Viljoen added.

Rare has also assisted several mining companies across Africa to secure the streamlined performance of their slurry pipelines. In fact, since acquiring the well-known Rare Plastic lining technology (where a plastic liner is installed into a steel pipeline), the company has sold and installed 200km of the product across sub-Saharan Africa, mostly to mining operations.

 

Agent for Polypipe Civils

Rare Plasticsrecently attained the exclusive distributorship for Polypipe Civils’ range of Ridgidrain, Ridgiduct and Ridgistorm XL (HDPE) structured wall pipes for South Africa and Zambia. With over 20,000 product lines, Polypipe is the UK’s largest plastic pipe systems manufacturer.

This means that Rare Plastics will be able to offer customers an extended product line and be able to supply up to 3000mm diameter structured wall pipes and fittings, which are not yet manufactured in Southern Africa.

www.rare.co.za