For almost 20 years, a local equipment dealer has been delivering sand and aggregate washing equipment in Australia.
Rivergum Industries is a local company that provides sand and aggregate washing equipment, spare parts and other items used in washing plants for quarries.
The company distributes products from suppliers FLSmidth Krebs, Superior Industries and Manufacturers Equipment Co.
Company founder Jim Hankins has entered his 18th year as the managing director of Rivergum.
“We started from scratch,” Hankins told Quarry. “We then acquired key suppliers, although those companies have changed due to transformations to the industry and supplier ownership.
“Rivergum has stayed focused on the sand washing component because that was where I viewed my expertise.”
Hankins’ industry expertise is both long-term and well known, both as a Fellow of the Institute of Quarrying Australia (IQA) and a retired member of the Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy (MAusIMM).
His previous experience in the mining sector involved minerals processing but Hankins now sticks to sand and aggregate washing.
Hankins said his experience in the IQA has enabled his business to branch out.
“Over the early experience of getting involved in the IQA, I realised it was a great networking platform, as well as being an important source of industry information, including education and safety initiatives and legislation,” he said.
“Suppliers were welcomed by producers and so forth and so you would typically meet a lot of people at evening dinners, weekend seminars or the annual conference.”
After becoming a Fellow of the IQA six years ago, Hankins has continued to attend its sponsored events. Hankins has volunteered at the IQA, with two years as the Sydney sub-branch chair, years as the NSW branch chair and sitting on a judging panels.
As a distributor of Superior Industries products, Hankins has worked with 888 Crushing and Screening Equipment to sell a portable plant in Victoria and a fixed plant in New South Wales and install and trial a low water washer in a hard rock quarry.
For Hankins, a “hands-on” approach to his business ensures customers get exactly what they pay for.
“I tend to be reasonably hands-on with the parts that I supply,” he said.
“If I find that I’m depending on somebody else manufacturing or supplying something, I like to ensure that the quality is up to our expectations before it gets sent to the client.”
This didn’t stop during the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hankins continued.
“With the challenges early in the pandemic, we modified things so that we just have things picked up and delivered directly to people. When these products were delivered during COVID-19, I would stay in contact with the client to ensure the product arrived how it should.”
Hankins is well accustomed to selling the Krebs line of pumps, which were distributed by Rivergum prior to FLSmidth’s takeover.
“I have handled the Krebs line of pumps for some time, and over that time FLSmidth took over Krebs,” he said.
“Krebs developed a ceramic line rubber hose which I believe we were the first ones to introduce into the industry.”
Rivergum also sources smaller items both locally and from overseas, including wear parts, sand screws, and coarse material washers.
Hankins said the quarrying industry’s close proximity to capital cities ensures easy deliveries, something that he prefers over his minerals processing days.
“The mining industry is more difficult to work in than the quarry industry due to location,” he said. “If you’re dealing with a mine in the outback they may have a head office in a capital city.
“Whereas in the quarry industry, a very high percentage of the operating quarries in Australia are based around the five mainland capital cities in a 150 to 200-kilometre radius to them – with all due respect to Tasmania of course.
“It’s much easier to deal with quarries as opposed to chasing things in mineral processing.”
For more information, visit http://rivergumindustries.com.au