Digging Deep

A compassionate mining company

If one theme has emerged from business owners during the COVID19 pandemic, it’s the importance of teamwork – sticking together with colleagues, partners and suppliers.

And Basil Read Mining definitely presents a united front.

On a Zoom call, I am introduced to the CEO, Nathan Williams, and five of his colleagues: Ismail Moosa, the Finance Director; Safety Head Joel Masebe; Deon Rajoo, the Engineering Director; Anton Cilliers, Operations and Contracts Director; and Sandile Masondo, Business Improvement and Supply Chain Director. Despite the difficulties they have encountered over the past few months, the team remains upbeat.

“Even with the impact it has had on our operations, our team has handled it very well,” Cilliers explains.

“The most difficult part has been the logistics – getting supplies, and spares and equipment across borders was hard. The operations onsite were running very smoothly, considering the restrictions. But our people are well-aligned on the operations front and it seems like logistics is slowly picking up, as borders are beginning to reopen,” he adds.

Basil Read is no stranger to difficulty, as even at the best of times, mining is a very challenging space to be working in.

“It’s very, very competitive, especially in certain bulk commodities like coal and iron ore,” CEO Williams explains. “That’s really because we’ve seen price declines from exports to China over the last couple of years. There are also a lot of challenges in terms of digitalisation.”

By this, Williams means that there is a necessity – perhaps even a pressure – for mining operations to invest heavily in technology, which helps them improve profit margins and efficiency. However, there is also an argument that digitalisation for communities surrounding the mines results in economic retrenchment and fewer employment opportunities. Williams has embarked on a PhD to research this in more detail. “I believe we need to write a different story,” he says.

DOING MINING DIFFERENTLY

Basil Read Mining is part of the larger Basil Read Group, which was established in 1952. It specialises in surface contract mining, including but not limited to drill and blasting; material handling which includes excavating, loading and hauling; in-pit water management; and trackless mobile machine maintenance.

It operates under two companies – one is Basil Read Mining and the other is the B&E (Blasting and Excavating brand), predominantly operating in the quarry space, but also working in civil engineering. A third subsidiary is Hytronix, a mining machine repair and maintenance company that looks after the machines deployed across sites and specialises in full machine and major component rebuilds.