In February 2025 Castings SA reported the Weir Minerals announcement of the closing of its historic manufacturing site in Todmorden, England. The specialist mining equipment producer said it was planning to relocate production to other Group foundries, including Gqeberha and Johannesburg in South Africa.
According to a BBC News report at the time, if approved, Weir’s facility in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, England was due to close by the end of 2025. The statement said employees in unaffected roles would transfer to a new engineering and technology centre which was set to open nearby, according to Weir. The specialist mining equipment producer said it was planning to relocate Todmorden’s production to other foundries within the Group. A big beneficiary would be the Weir Heavy Bay Foundry (HBF) in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape. The Weir Group’s Todmorden site had been an ironworks since the late 1800s.
Picture for illustration purposes only. Weir HBF have purchased an Inductotherm VIP Dual-Trak furnace system, two Inductotherm furnace bodies – 4 ton and 6 ton – both fitted with Inductotherm Vortex fume hoods
Following the announcement on 23 January 2025 regarding Weir’s proposed plans to optimise capacity across its Minerals Division’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, and the subsequent update on 8 April 2025 regarding completion of Weir’s collective consultation with employees, an announcement was made by the Group in June 2025 to say that work was underway to transfer production from Todmorden to other facilities in the EMEA region to bring the business closer to their key customers and enhance efficiency. As a result, manufacturing operations at the Todmorden site would cease by the end of 2025, the statement said.
In March 2025 Weir Heavy Bay Foundry applied for an Environmental Authorisation in terms of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations, 2014 as amended, and also applied for an amendment to the foundry’s Atmospheric Emissions Licence (AEL), for proposed expansion activities. And in August 2025 a draft basic assessment report was issued with public participation open until 19 September 2025.
In terms of Section 24(5) of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998, as amended, proposed activities such as the addition of new equipment being installed at Weir Heavy Bay Foundry and the resultant increase in production require that a Basic Assessment process be undertaken for the EIA and the relevant authority is the Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT). This proposed expansion would also require the application for amendment to the AEL, which would be submitted to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
Moving production figures to 1 000 tons per year still represents a doubling of current production levels of 500 tons per year it has been said in a YouTube clip
Once all reports had been submitted and approved, Weir Heavy Bay Foundry could continue with its expansion plans and these began towards the end of 2025. Weir Heavy Bay Foundry said the changes to its operations to increase production capacity were due to industry demand and to meet market needs.
It is believed that the majority of Todmorden’s production was transferred to Weir Heavy Bay Foundry, thus the need for new and additional equipment to cater for the increased production requirements.
Inductotherm furnaces
In order to cope with the extra production figures, which have been reported as targeting 1 000 tons per year although the EIA application says 1 200 tons, Weir Heavy Bay Foundry have installed an Inductotherm 2 000kW/200 Hz VIP Dual-Trak furnace system, one Inductotherm 4 ton furnace and one Inductotherm 6 ton furnace, with both furnaces fitted with a Inductotherm Vortex fume hood, a high-velocity extraction system designed to capture intense fumes, dust, and heat during metal melting, pouring, charging and slagging and Inductotherm’s Melt-Manager® Plus, a touch-screen control system designed to automate, monitor, and optimise induction melting furnaces.
A fume extraction system has also been installed and linked to the furnaces to remove the fumes and dust by Endeco Omega Sinto. This same company upgraded the reclamation plant and replaced the mixing head on the 20 ton an hour continuous mixer last year and was involved in the installation and fabrication of the Mikropul Nederman filtration system that has been purchased.
Xmeco Heavy Engineering has now been acquired by Weir Heavy Bay Foundry
Although I have not been invited to visit the foundry it has been reported that a new top hat heat treatment furnace has been installed, the fettling booths and painting booths have been upgraded and new automated grinders have been purchased. Infrastructure upgrades include pit extensions and the company has integrated an advanced pattern development system.
Moving production figures to 1 000 tons per year still represents a doubling of current production levels of 500 tons per year it has been said in a YouTube clip.
Acquisition of Xmeco Heavy Engineering
Weir Heavy Bay Foundry emerged out of the acquisition of Xmeco Foundry by Weir Minerals in 2013. At the time Xmeco Foundry was a company within the Xmeco Group. Also in the Group was Xmeco Heavy Engineering, which is situated next door to Weir Heavy Bay Foundry. Xmeco Heavy Engineering has been the external machining source for Weir Heavy Bay Foundry because of location and its capacity of 18 tons whereas Weir Heavy Bay Foundry’s largest casting is less than that.
Xmeco Heavy Engineering has now been acquired by Weir Heavy Bay Foundry and continues to be the machining department of the company. Machining equipment has been supplemented with 11 machines that have been sent to South Africa from Todmorden. Weir Heavy Bay Foundry’s in-house capabilities now include design, research and development, foundry and machining.
