After a successful career in government, Mario van Niekerk decided in 1990 to retire as from a career in civil service, after having served 7 years in the United States as a South African diplomat– and started an import and export company – exporting vaccines produced by Onderstepoort to East Africa, and importing cattle semen from the USA. During the early 1990’s he was instrumental in improving specifically the Beef Master genetics in South Africa – and in introducing Onderstepoort vaccines to East Africa after the revision of import sanctions.

On one of the trips to Kenya, visiting vaccine customers, Mario met a Dane by the name of Uwe Jurgensen, who was employed by the Danish trading company ABC Hansen A/S – and introduced Mario to the world of stoneground wheat milling equipment using natural stones manufactured in Denmark– and the two decided to investigate the market for wheat mills in South Africa.

Due to the recent disbanding of the Maize and Wheat Boards in South Africa, it was no longer necessary for companies to obtain special milling permits, and control of grain milling was removed from the hands of the large conglomerates, and small and medium scale milling became a possibility for anyone.

ABC Hansen A/S also had an interest in Engsko A/S – a Danish manufacturer of stone mills and milling stones, and Mario formed Stoneground Mills – the name being a result of the cornerstone of the company at the time – being the stone mills installed with every wheat mill. As such, Stoneground Mills was the pioneer in Southern Africa – introducing and educating consumers and processors alike – as to the health and operational advantages of stone ground wheat flour. Stoneground Mills, in partnership with their Danish sister company Engsko A/S installed more than 150 small wheat mills (500–1500kg/hr) in the span of 5 years in South Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia – where similar deregulations had taken place after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the associated production controls.

As part of the partnership, ABC Hansen A/S from Denmark acquired 50% of the shares of Stoneground Mills IFC in 1996. Between 1994 and 2002 Stoneground Mills also operated numerous wheat mills in and around Gauteng successfully, before selling the bulk of these mills to a listed food processing company in 2002.

As demand increased, and manufacturing costs in Europe escalated, Stoneground Mills started manufacturing some of the components of the milling lines in Pretoria in 1998, and purchased the required equipment and rented production space in Silvertondale, Pretoria.

With manufacturing came development, and Stoneground Mills began developing equipment independently from the ABC Hansen A/S stable – with grain polishers, conveyors, feed mixers and hammer mills – and the range was expanded to include feed milling equipment as well as the traditional fine milling lines

Mario went on a South African export promotion mission to South America, to introduce the milling equipment manufactured by Stoneground Mills, and saw first hand the advantages and potential of on farm grain storage, and also saw the possibility of pairing the grain storage with the feed and grain mills that Stoneground Mills was producing – as raw material storage is a necessity for mills.

The first grain storage complex was imported from the USA – and installed successfully near Marble Hall in Limpopo – and since then the company has installed more than 300 grain storage facilities across sub-Saharan Africa.

Due to the rapid expansion of the manufacturing business, and the stock keeping requirement of the trading business – a decision was made to build a purpose built manufacturing facility in Samcorpark, Pretoria. The 2,800m² facility was completed in 2006, and Stoneground Mills moved in – and at the same time the company invested heavily in expanded production equipment to keep up with demand.

The company holding the trademark for Hippo Hammer mills was acquired by Stoneground Mills, and the legendary Hippo Hammer mill brand came under the Stoneground Mills banner, and production of the mills were moved to Pretoria from Pietermaritzburg, where they had been produced since 1928. As part of the acquisition, the manufacturing of the iconic mills were modernized and standardized, changing from imperial measurements on the parts to metric parts, ensuring high availability of spare parts, as well as changing to precision plasma and lazer cutting of parts from the previous hand cut system, to ensure better fit and finish.

Stoneground Mills acquired Scanwood Solutions – who was an importer of high quality Danish waste wood equipment, including wood chippers and shredders. With this purchase, Stoneground Mills was able to widen it’s market from historically strictly grain farmers and processors, to include orchards, forestries and biofuel processors – widening the reach and footprint of the company in the South African agricultural market

Stoneground Mills changed the name of the company to ABC Hansen Africa – to better reflect the progression of the company from a purely milling equipment supplied, to a complete solution supplier, and to align with ABC Hansen A/S in Denmark

ABC Hansen Africa and Hippo Mills celebrated the 90th anniversary of the Hippo Hammer Mills at the Royal Agricultural show in Pietermaritzburg, where the first Hippo Hammer mill was exhibited in 1928. Present at the celebration was the surviving previous owners of Hippo Mills, as well as the descendants of Arthur Collins, who was the inventor and the first manufacturer of the iconic Hippo Hammermill.

In 2022 came a generational change – where Mario van Niekerk handed the day to day operations of ABC Hansen Africa in over to his two sons, Marion van Niekerk – as the Chief Operating Officer – who has been working at the company full time since 2010, and Adriaan van Niekerk – as the Chief Technical Officer – who has been working at the company full time since 2016. This generational hand over ensures that the principles that Mario van Niekerk built into the business of honesty, integrity, and a commitment to quality – are carried over into the next 30 years of the company’s existence, in the hands of the new generation. Mario van Niekerk stays involved in the business in a more non-executive Chairman position.

It was decided to build a new warehouse and distribution centre in Mosselbay, in the Western Cape, to expand the geographic footprint of the company – to better service customers in the southern agricultural producing areas of South Africa – and a 1,600m² property was developed, and the new warehouse and distribution centre opened in February 2026.

The company continuously invests in new equipment, research and development of new equipment and improving on existing equipment lines, and strives to perfect our process – and to live to our slogal – Our tools – your yield