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MODERN MINING
July 2016
COAL
at approximately 3 Mt/a on an annualised
basis. “This is an excellent figure but it is just
the start,” he says. “Our longer term goal is
to increase our capacity to 8 Mt/a. Our pres-
ent resource base – which is around 47 Mt – is
inadequate to support this level of production
on a sustainable basis so we are constantly on
the look-out for possible acquisitions of either
companies or properties and indeed are already
in talks with various parties.”
He adds that Wescoal is primarily a supplier
of thermal coal to Eskom but has aspirations
to diversify its revenue streams by not only
developing a wider domestic customer base but
also achieving up to 1 Mt/a in export sales (as
opposed to the roughly 205 000 t/a currently
exported). “With our low cost structure com-
pared to many other international producers,
we believe we are very competitive and we will
be looking to particularly target the Indian mar-
ket, where there is considerable demand for the
type of coal we produce.”
Sulaiman was appointed CEO of Wescoal
Holdings in April this year, after serving as
Acting CEO since early 2015. He has a BSc
in Chemical Engineering from the University
of Cape Town and, prior to joining Wescoal,
worked at BHP Billiton, not only in South
Africa but also Chile, Turkey and Australia.
He leads a young team open to new ideas and
fresh thinking although this has not been at
the expense of experience. Wescoal Mining,
for example, is headed as CEO by Dutch Botes,
a qualified mining, electrical and mechanical
engineer, who has a long plus 37-year track
record in (mainly) coal mining. Prior to join-
ing Wescoal, he was CEO of Umcebo Mining, a
Wescoal Processing now
has the capacity to treat up
to 200 000 tons of ROM a
month.
junior coal miner, and – before that – served as
GM at a number of coal operations owned by
BHP Billiton Energy Coal South Africa, includ-
ing Middelburg Mines, Khutala and Optimum.
Explaining his management philosophy,
Sulaiman says that one of his priorities has
been to ‘corporatise’ Wescoal and move it
away from its ‘family business’ origins. “We’re
a listed entity and we need to follow the best
modern corporate and operational practices
in every aspect of our operations. Most of all,
we need to make our business predictable and
sustainable with a clear-cut strategy in place
which is understandable to our employees, our
investors and our customers.” He adds that in
respect of mining, Wescoal’s ambition is to be
the pre-eminent junior player. “Mining is not
complicated,” he says. “The fundamentals are
well understood and our goal is to perform
those fundamentals better than anyone else.”
Sulaiman is well aware of the need for
Wescoal to be fully BEE-compliant – and indeed
to go beyond the normal compliance level and
meet the ’50 plus 1’ target that Eskom has now
set for new suppliers. “Last year we were 30 %
black-owned and this figure has now increased
to over 40 % and we’re on course to achieve in
excess of 50 % black ownership by the end of
the year,” he notes.
Looking specifically at Elandspruit,
Sulaiman says that the Wescoal mining team
can take credit for having delivered the ‘green-
field’ mine in a short period of time in an
adverse economic environment – all at a capi-
tal cost of around R250 million (including the
cost of acquiring the resource).
“We have been planning the mine for