Mechani Mags points to oil-free design and energy savings as the focus for tramp metal removal as the mining and recycling sectors plan for the second half of 2026.
As South African mining, processing and recycling operations move through the middle of 2026, equipment that keeps production lines safe and running cleanly is back in the spotlight. Mechani Mags, the Boksburg manufacturer that trades online as African Magnets, continues to build and supply magnetic separators designed to pull tramp metal out of material streams before it can damage crushers, mills, screens and other downstream plant. The company designs and produces this equipment locally from its base in JetPark, Gauteng, and supplies operations across the country and further afield.
Tramp metal is the loose iron and steel that finds its way into ore, coal, scrap and recycled feed. Bucket teeth, broken tools, bolts, plates and offcuts all end up on conveyor belts, and any one of them can break a crusher liner, tear a belt or stop a plant for hours. The work that Mechani Mags does sits at this point in the process. Its suspended overband magnets hang above moving conveyors, lift ferrous metal clear of the burden and carry it away on a self-cleaning belt, so that operators do not have to stop the line to clear an obstruction by hand.
An oil-free approach to a long-standing problem
The product that Mechani Mags leads with is its dry-type electro-magnet, an oil-free suspended unit built for tramp metal removal over conveyors. Older suspended magnets of this kind were often oil-cooled, which added weight, created a contamination risk and meant more maintenance over the life of the unit. The Mechani Mags design does away with the oil entirely. There are no fans either, which removes another set of moving parts that can fail in dusty conditions.
The company markets this unit as a dry magnetic separator and points to a number of features that matter on a working site. The drive uses a WEG IE3 motor paired with a SEW gearbox, and the magnet is rated to the IE4 efficiency standard, which the company describes as roughly fifty percent more energy-efficient than standard models. For an operation that runs separation equipment around the clock, that difference in power draw adds up over a year. The unit carries an IP66 rating, which means it is sealed against dust ingress and water, and it is built to operate at any angle, including fully inverted, so it can be mounted to suit the layout of the plant rather than the other way around.
Construction is heavy-duty, with stainless steel used through the build to stand up to the wet, abrasive and corrosive conditions that are common in mineral processing and recycling yards. For underground operations, the company offers versions with explosion-protection certification, so the same self-cleaning approach can be used in environments where ordinary equipment would not be permitted.
A range built around real plant needs
Beyond the flagship overband magnet, Mechani Mags produces a ferrochrome magnet that uses rare earth elements to separate ferrochrome from slag, a specialised task in the ferroalloy industry where recovering metal from waste streams has a direct effect on yield. The company also builds heavy-duty lifting magnets for scrap handling, ball loading and furnace loading, sealed units made for the duty cycles those jobs demand rather than for conveyor suspension.
Rounding out the range is a set of auxiliaries that keep the main equipment working: control panels, flame-retardant belting, suspension chain sets and spare parts. Because the company manufactures the equipment itself, it can supply these supporting items as a matter of course rather than sending customers elsewhere for them.
Detection and removal go hand in hand on a modern plant, and operators that want to stop metal before it reaches a vulnerable machine often pair magnetic separation with a conveyor metal detector so that non-magnetic tramp metal is flagged as well. Mechani Mags positions its magnetic equipment as the removal stage in that wider protection strategy, taking ferrous material off the belt automatically once it has been identified as a risk to the line.
Service that continues after the sale
Mechani Mags treats the supply of equipment as the start of a longer relationship rather than the end of one. The company carries out repairs and upgrades on existing units, runs training for the teams that operate and maintain the equipment, and conducts site inspections to check that magnets are installed and performing as they should. It also produces compliance reports and carries out gauss testing, the measurement of magnetic field strength that confirms a unit is still pulling metal at the level it was designed to.
This matters because a suspended magnet that has weakened over time can look like it is working while quietly letting tramp metal through. Regular gauss testing gives an operation a documented basis for trusting its separation equipment, and the compliance reporting supports the safety and maintenance records that mines and processing plants are expected to keep.
Who the equipment serves
The company supplies the mining, mineral processing and recycling industries, sectors that share the same basic exposure to tramp metal even though their feed materials differ. In recycling, the metal often is the product, and clean separation drives the value of the output. In mining and processing, the metal is the hazard, and removing it protects expensive plant and keeps production moving. Mechani Mags has supplied equipment used by large operators in the resources sector, and its work is aimed at the demanding conditions those operations run in.
The middle of 2026 finds many South African operations weighing energy costs and maintenance budgets carefully. Equipment that draws less power, needs less attention and avoids the contamination risk of oil-cooled designs speaks directly to those pressures. The company frames its dry-type approach as a way to meet safety and throughput goals without adding to the running costs that weigh on a plant month after month.
Local manufacturing with a wider reach
Designing and building the equipment in Gauteng gives Mechani Mags control over quality and lead times, and it means support is close at hand for South African customers. At the same time, the company exports, so the same equipment reaches operations beyond the country’s borders. For a sector that often waits on imported parts and long delivery times, a local manufacturer that holds the design, the build and the after-sales service in one place is a practical advantage.
The combination of oil-free design, energy efficiency, self-cleaning operation and local support is the core of what Mechani Mags offers as 2026 progresses. The company continues to refine its equipment around the conditions its customers actually work in, from underground mines that need certified protection to recycling yards that run their separation lines hard every day.
Learn more
Operations looking to protect their plant from tramp metal, recover ferrous material from their streams or upgrade ageing separation equipment can explore the full range and the supporting services on the Mechani Mags website at https://africanmagnets.com/. The site sets out the dry-type electro-magnet, the ferrochrome magnet, the lifting magnets and the auxiliaries, along with the repair, training, inspection and testing services that go with them.
About Mechani Mags
Mechani Mags is a Boksburg manufacturer that trades online as African Magnets and designs and builds magnetic separation equipment from its base in JetPark, Gauteng. Its range includes suspended overband magnets, a dry-type oil-free electro-magnet, ferrochrome magnets and heavy-duty lifting magnets, along with control panels, belting and spare parts. The company serves the mining, mineral processing and recycling sectors across South Africa and exports further afield, and it backs its equipment with repairs, training, site inspections and gauss testing.
Media Contact
Mechani Mags
Email: info@mecmag.co.za
Phone: +27 11 397 6870
Website: https://africanmagnets.com/
