How Diefenbach fits with McLanahan, EIW

By Kevin Yanik| March 14, 2023

Cory Jenson was among those to address the trade press during a McLanahan Corp. press conference on Media Monday at ConExpo-Con/Agg. Photo: P&Q Staff

McLanahan Corp. acquired Diefenbach, an Italian manufacturer of filter presses and thickeners, a few short weeks ago.

McLanahan’s Cory Jenson reflected on the acquisition Monday during a pre-show ConExpo-Con/Agg press conference, detailing the impact the company expects the acquisition to have on the U.S. market.

“With the Diefenbach filter presses, it gives us a differentiated product, a proven product [and] over 100 years [of history] of building filter presses available to the Eagle Iron Works (EIW) network of dealers,” says Jenson, who serves McLanahan as executive vice president of sales and business development. “They have a few different styles of filter presses: overhead beam filter press [and] a side-beam filter press. There are a couple styles of thickeners.

“For the Eagle Iron Works dealers, this truly gives them the ability to offer the complete package – complete end-to-end washing solutions,” he adds.

According to Jenson, McLanahan first turned to Diefenbach in 2013 as a contract manufacturer of filter presses.

“We’ve been very happy with what they’re manufacturing for us, and we’ve been looking for how we get end-to-end solutions for Eagle Iron Works,” Jenson says. “We think water treatment and elimination of tailings ponds is part of the future.”

Where things are going

Diefenbach has been designing and manufacturing liquid-solid separation equipment for filtration and dewatering applications since 1907. Photo: McLanahan Corp.

Regulation is driving water management in a new direction, according to Jenson.

“When we go to some countries and some states in the U.S., that’s the way the trend is going,” Jenson says. “No longer is it easy to get a permit for any pond. Maybe you have a deposit and you want to start mining. But if you want to wait for a permit for a pond, it takes five to seven years. That’s not great for getting a return on investment on that new land that you bought.”

McLanahan has a pretty specific vision for how future projects will be shaped, as well as how producers will be expected to manage water.

“We see there’s a lot of projects moving toward closed-circuit systems where all water is recycled, all of the material is dewatered and it can be dry stacked for reclamation back in the mine,” Jenson says. “That is the future of the aggregates industry and the mining industry. So Diefenbach, for us, covers a few key things.”

Diefenbach was founded in 1907, and Jenson says it is one of the oldest companies manufacturing filter presses anywhere in the world.

“[Diefenbach] gives us a manufacturing plant in Europe for Eagle Iron Works, as well as for McLanahan,” Jenson says. “Diefenbach also has its own business in other industries that it will continue to sell to as Diefenbach. But it gives us a very attractive manufacturing cost for McLanahan filter presses, as well as Diefenbach filter presses.”