The Recolsa group will work closely with Keech Chile, a stand-alone subsidiary of the family-owned Australian steel foundry that was set up in 2012 to market and distribute Keech products to the Chilean underground copper mining market.

Recolsa will handle orders for Keech in Peru.

Formed in 1980, Recolsa has specialised in manufacturing and reconstruction of parts for a wide range of primary and secondary industries, including the industrial, mining, rail, defence and agricultural industries.

Having established itself in Peru’s mining industry the deal with Recolsa was a logical fit for what Keech wanted to achieve, Keech export sales manager Mark Adams said.

“We talked to a few reasonably large companies that we have an association with here in Australia and asked who they dealt with in Peru. They were all saying ‘our mines there are serviced by Recolsa; you should talk to them’,” he said.

“It’s always better to find reseller/dealer businesses that are well established, so rather than starting from scratch we’ve expedited the process and aligned ourselves with a reputable, well established business that, like us, is family-owned and well-known and respected in the industry.

“We did our homework and looked at four companies over there, but Recolsa was the perfect match for what we want to do.”

Adams said Keech planned to continue its expansion into the South American market, with Brazil next in its sights, once the Peruvian partnership is working smoothly. Argentina, Bolivia and Colombia are also on the list and he said the relationships would be similar to the partnership deal signed with Recolsa.

“This is a service-based industry, so you need people on the ground, at the coalface – literally – hence we’re looking for distributors and dealers of our products around South America, which will allow us to have a more robust network,” he explained.

Despite some obstacles surrounding the move into South America, including language and cultural issues, the company now has a multilingual team that understands the product and the industry and culture they are selling into, according to Adams.

With all the boxes ticked, Adams said Keech would start looking to other countries.

“We’ve based ourselves in Chile and built up our base with an office and a warehouse that can also supply other countries in the region. Now we are spreading our reach into other South American countries and the best way forward is to use local businesses with local knowledge,” he said.

The paperwork for the new partnership with Recolsa was signed just before Christmas, with the new business effectively opening its doors in early January.

Adams said Recolsa was already reporting substantial interest in Keech products.

“They can cover the whole of Peru and all of our mining and engineering product range which includes everything from underground mining to open pit mining. Some of the others were focused just on open pit, or just on underground, whereas Recolsa handles the whole spectrum of mining, so that was a major consideration for us,” he said.

The move into South America was a natural progression for Keech.

The company has had representation in Canada for around 12 years and an associate in South Africa for over a year. Keech also exports around 20% of its products to international markets including Chile, Canada, Kazakhstan, Japan and the Middle East.