“We export from this facility to more than 60 countries,” Diaz-Stringel said. “But we still have geographies that are not fully explored.”

International Mining Team Publishing Ltd 2 Claridge Court, Lower Kings Road Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire England HP4 2AF, UK

In mining one of the most interesting markets is hard rock cutting, where the potential for Element Six materials is enormous in rock tools. In relevant ASTM tests such as B611-13, PCD performs up to 500 or 650 times better than tungsten carbide. Of course it has a significant price premium but its performance far, far outweighs this price gap. Bening stated: “PCD is a supermaterial so has a higher price but massive advantages in performance that come with it.”

Image

Element Six, as a company, was set up to harness the unique properties of synthetic diamond (polycrystalline diamond or PCD) and tungsten carbide to deliver supermaterials that improve the efficiency, performance and reliability of industrial tools and technology, including in mining.

“We have seen a strong economy, really going back to late 2017,” he said. “But we see a lot of uncertainty.”

IM recently met with Element Six (E6) Global Sales Director, Mining, Road & WP, Markus Bening, to better understand what this means for the mining industry and what progress has been made.

Taking a hard rock cutting unit, E6 can supply the PCD material on its own, the whole component, the pick or the disc cutter, whatever the customer wants, but primarily E6 is a materials expert.

As previously published by IM, major developers of continuous hard rock cutting machines for mining include Epiroc (Mobile Miner), Sandvik (MX650), Caterpillar (Rock Header/Rock Straight) and Komatsu (DynaCut).

“This is definitely a big improvement,” the 67-year-old Rootstown resident said. “The lights alone, I can see a lot better. Because of our growth, we had to get a bigger building.”

The Akron facility and its 102 employees make 3.5 million to 3.7 million of the 8 million tungsten carbide burrs ATA manufactures annually and exports them globally, Diaz-Stringel said. ATA has two other factories in Europe.

And hard rock cutting is not the only mining focus. PCD also has potential in down the hole (DTH) drilling where Percussive Diamond Inserts are used on the bits, and again advanced trials are ongoing with the main global manufacturers of drill bits, with a lot of success so far. PCD means a lot of energy savings in bit use, and bits keeping their shape much longer meaning no regrinding is needed.

The specialty manufacturer, which makes high quality tungsten carbide burrs and cutting tools used to finish metal and composite products, opened up its new facility on Ascot Parkway in Akron to customers and other guests for a few hours.

Besides having acres-more space available for additional expansion, the Akron facility features open office plans up front and a clean, modern and well-lit factory floor at the rear.

“We started this journey a couple years ago,” he said. “This building was already here. With minor tweaks, we made it our own. We’re very happy with the result. We are set for the future.”

It is worth remembering that the company while focussing on advanced materials also has a unique position in the industry, with diamond mining major De Beers Group the 100% owner of the technologies part of the business, and De Beers Group, itself, part of global mining company Anglo American. Some of the industry’s leading hard rock cutting technologies are already being used by these operators, at Anglo’s Twickenham platinum mine, for example. E6 also has all the required raw material sourcing and manufacturing capability such as advanced high pressure/high temperature presses in house to allow it to supply PCD solutions in the quality, consistency and quantity that will be needed to the mining global market.

Image

In talking to open house guests, Diaz-Stringel said the previous facility was only about a mile away.

Horrigan noted that the business park originally was a racetrack that went out of business. Now, the repurposed site is a success story, he said.

Due to confidentiality agreements, Bening would not specify which OEMs are trialling PCD in the hard rock cutting space but confirmed that E6 is working on PCD prototype testing and trials with several leading players and has achieved impressive results.

Besides its exported burrs, ATA Tools also imports raw materials, all of which can be affected by tariffs, he said.

“All this talk about tariffs and trade wars, that brings a lot of uncertainty not only for ATA but for the markets that we serve,” he said. “It’s hard to tell whether this robust economy we’ve seen the last few months is going to continue the next six months.”

“What we offer our customer is a solution that can finish any metal piece,” said Sophia Heslin, ATA’s group marketing manager based in Ireland.

Reporter Jim Mackinnon covers business and county government. He can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ

Image

Tim Roberts, a quality inspector, said he’s been with the company for 18 years. He’s 38 and lives in Suffield Township.

ATA’s recent move to the new 60,000-square-foot facility in Ascot Industrial Park from a 40,000-square-foot building in nearby Cuyahoga Falls is all about the future, Diaz-Stringel said.

“It allows us to grow,” he said. “When we were in Cuyahoga Falls, we were landlocked. ... We have a lot of aggressive plans for growth.”

That uncertainty revolves around the imposition of new tariffs by the United States and other nations and talk of even more tariffs to come, he said.

ATA targets growth both in specific industries and geographically, he said. The company is eyeing South America as a new export market, he said.

ATA’s rotary cutting tools in turn are used by companies around the world to remove materials and in finishing products. Customers include contractors and subcontractors in automotive, aerospace, marine/ship building, oil and gas and other industries.

Gene Gharky, who has worked at ATA and its predecessor for 32 years, said the new facility helps his job as a profile technician, which involves the early stages of tool building.

Bening told IM: “Today there is a lot of advanced testing and fine tuning using our PCD in the cutting tools of the latest hard rock cutting mining machines. In the next five to ten years I see continuous hard rock cutting going commercial throughout the mining industry and E6’s PCD technology will undoubtedly form an important part of that.”

“This is the largest burr manufacturing facility in the world,” said Hector Diaz-Stringel, president of the Akron company. The facility’s history goes back to SGS Tool’s burr division, which Ireland-based ATA bought about six years ago.