It takes courage, faith and a whole lot of guts for a retrenched female engineer to head up a consortium of fellow retrenchees–along with the local community–to takeover a coal mine that mining giant Exxaro had closed
The Arnot coal mine in Mpumalanga employed over a thousand people across its mining, logistics, finance and administration departments, but all of them were retrenched in 2015 when Eskom didn’t renew the Coal Supply Agreement (CSA) contract with Arnot. It was a bitter blow for everyone at the mine, and for Bontle Aphane it was particularly devastating. Aphane was introduced to the coal mining industry after completing her engineering degree, a journey which had been in part thanks to the Exxaro bursary programme.
She went on to work for Exxaro for many years across operations and managing the day-to-day activities in order to meet production and cost targets. She later worked in project management, where her responsibilities spread from managing single to multi-disciplinary engineering projects.
When her world (and that of her 1000-plus colleagues) was rocked by the retrenchment, instead of steering a safe course towards another corporate, Aphane embarked instead on a bold entrepreneurial journey with a difference.
“That was in 2016 when, together with some of my previous colleagues, we dedicated ourselves towards the reopening of Arnot Mine. It took us almost four years to finalise the transfer of Arnot Mine to Arnot OpCo, but we were on a mission so we persevered and in February 2020 we took over the operations of the mine,” said Aphane, who was appointed CEO of Arnot OpCo, a consortium now owned by former employees, communities and Wescoal.
We have recently secured the Coal Supply Agreement (CSA) with Eskom. This represents a long-term coal supply agreement with the embattled state owned enterprise. Arnot Coal now has the security (and cashflow) of supplying coal to Eskom for 10 years.
“The doors are wide open for us now!” smiles Aphane, but the Eskom deal is far from a ticket to print money. They are fighting hard to earn it by adapting their operations. Key to securing the contract has been an innovative approach to delivering coal to Eskom via a system of conveyor belts, as this would significantly reduce costs for the power utility as well as the new mining company on the block.
While mining spells big bucks for many sharp-eyed investors, in the case of Arnot OpCo there’s a lot more at stake, and a lot closer to home.
“We are committed to empowering and investing meaningfully in the communities we operate in. Arnot OpCo remains a community with traditional leadership and community structures, while being progressive and visionary in its thinking. Our operations are geared to benefit the community, which is the majority shareholder in the business and the lessor of the land upon which the mining operations are located,” says Aphane.
Being a community-driven organisation, Arnot OpCo makes use of a management structure that includes a dedicated team with diverse skill sets, but it’s the company’s four pillars (Community, Green Energy, Partnership and Transformation) that provide it with its greatest strength–a unified workforce all driven to maximise the mine’s substantial potential. Arnot OpCo has one of the best remaining ore bodies in South Africa, and their long-term aim is to achieve stable, sustainable production output at a low cost and to ultimately be able to grow the business organically. They are also looking into making use of rehabilitated land in partnership with the community as part of contributing to a cleaner environment. This forward-thinking management model allows for integration with the community, green energy and partnerships with all other stakeholders.
Staying true to the four pillars is significantly helping the organisation to gain support from both government and local communities. Subsequently, says Bontle, operations are stable “with little to no community and employee unrest”.
“At Arnot Opco we are a Safety and People First Mining company. That is important as this is a high-risk business and you cannot hope to succeed without total trust, respect, teamwork and an uncompromising commitment to safety and people first,” says Aphane.
While environmental safety remains top priority, the company is steadfast in its commitment to constantly embark on sustainable initiatives as well as partnering with local communities. It’s this spirit of purpose over profit that, ironically, usually leads to greater profits for a company through the loyalty and commitment that is built up within the workforce. That’s hardly surprising, considering that Arnot OpCo doesn’t pursue success for its own sake, but rather because it gets the company closer to achieving its true purpose, that of stakeholder beneficiation and, in so doing, leaving a lasting legacy.
However, as with any company that hopes to be truly significant, a lot rests on the shoulders of its leader. Fortunately, Aphane draws constant inspiration from one of the world’s great business leaders, Richard Branson, for whom caring for his employees has always been top of the pile. “Take care of your employees and they will take care of your business,” is a well-known Branson quote that has struck a chord deep within Aphane.
“We focus on helping our team understand how their work contributes to the bigger picture. When people feel that their work matters, they are more invested in it. When you get the buy-in of the team contributing to the greater vision, your growth strategy will see immediate results. If you want to grow for real, show people their impact!” smiles Aphane.
South Africa’s mining history has come a long way and the focus point in this industry has been employee trust. We asked Bontle to tell us more about how Arnot is building employee trust. She explained that the flattened hierarchy has improved communication and level of trust between management and employees because of employees having greater responsibility. The open channels of communication allow this trust to further develop,” Bontle said.
