And providing the backbone of this business is a growing fleet of Bell B30E Articulated Dump Trucks (ADTs).
Lucy Tau met her husband, Mothupi, while they were both working for South Africa’s state-owned telecommunications company in Pretoria. Both had tertiary qualifications but after some time working in a corporate environment, they felt the need for a new challenge that centred around being self-employed. Lucy holds a Bachelor’s degree with a Psychology major, a post-graduate qualification in project management and an MBA specialising in leadership management.
“We obtained a franchise for a restaurant from a company operating across South Africa and opened a branch of it in Burgersdorp as Mothupi hails from the nearby village of Mashataung,” Lucy tells us. “As the local community knew us, they supported us well, but after five years of counting every slice of bread, Mothupi, who was running the restaurantwhile I remained in the corporate environment, had had enough.”
Mines in South Africa are encouraged to support local communities by offering employment and making use of small and emerging contractors who operate in their areas and Two Rivers Platinum Mine, the large platinum mine close to Mashataung village was no different.
“We had heard through the local community that the mine was advertising contracts for load and haul contractors,” Lucy explains. “We registered our company, Matla Sechaba Holdings,in 2016 and set out to explore these new possibilities in 2018. We engaged with an existing contractor who offered us a 30% portion of his contract on the mine while also giving us valuable mentorship as we knew very little of how such a contract worked and what was needed in terms of equipment, people, planning and working methods.”
According to Lucy, Matla Sechaba means “power of the community” and they chose this name in honour of the support they had received from their local community.
Two Rivers Platinum Mine encouraged Mothupi and Lucy to approach South Africa’s renowned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) for assistance with financing of the yellow metal equipment they need to get started and recommended that they approach Bell Equipment as a proudly South African manufacturer of mining haulage equipment withregards to its legendary tough Articulated Dump Trucks (ADTs).
Here, Chris Botha, one of Bell Equipment’s top sales representatives based at the company’s flagship Jet Park branch in Boksburg, takes up the story. “I remember meeting Mothupi when he stopped by our branch in 2018 and was struck by his eagerness to learn as much as possible about our products and what their application should be,” Chris recalls. “It was a privilege to be able to advise Mothupi after learning about his new company’s role on the mine and I suggested that our Bell B30E ADT range of trucks would be the right size for the application.”
With financing from the IDC in place at favourable rates, Matla Sechaba Holdings took delivery of two new Bell B30E ADTs in late 2018 and could start work as subcontractors.
By 2020, Matla Sechaba was still working as a subcontractor but now for a 50% share of the load and haul of both waste and ore run-of-mine material from the underground workings.This, however, meant that they needed to increase the size of their yellow machine fleet, and they again approached Bell Equipment for two more Bell B30E ADTs.
“We were very pleased that with Bell Equipment backing us, we obtained financing through Wesbank and could take delivery of two new Bell B30E ADTs which made an immediate difference to our production,” Lucy says. “We run two shifts of 10 hours each around the clock and ore is hauled over a distance of 3km while the distance to the waste dumps can be as much as 12km.”
Matla Sechaba Holdings’ Bell ADTs are used for an average of 225 to 250 hours a month and the first two ADTs have now done 16 535 and 16 041 hours respectively while the latter two from 2020, show 13 815 and 12 648 hours respectively. All the Bell ADTs have been bought with Bell Equipment Care Packages for up to 6 000 hours on the wet drivetrain and hydraulics and the most recent ADTs have an added Full Machine Cover (FMC) up to 36 months or 6 000 hours. Fuel is supplied by the mine and although its consumption is monitored, the Bell B30Es’ frugal use is well within the business plan.
Sadly, Mothupi passed away in 2021 due to COVID-19 and Lucy resigned from her corporate role to manage the contract at the mine. “Mothupi had shared a great deal of information with me about what makes a mining contract work when we first started, but I’ve had to learn so much more in a short space of time and I’m fortunate to have a lot of support from my team, the mine, as well as the likes of Chris Botha from Bell Equipment,” Lucy says. “Our Bell ADTs get serviced from Bell Equipment’s branch in nearby Steelpoort but despite this, my point of entry into Bell is through Chris, who is always available to assist me with technical, accounting, and general enquiries. Chris has proved to be more than just a sales representative and I see him as a friend of mine and of my company as he and Bell Equipment really understand our business and the challenges we face.”
By 2024, Matla Sechaba’s role on the mine had changed as the company was offered a stand-alone contract that amounted to 50% of the load and haul of run-of-mine ore and waste material.
The mining industry in South Africa must be applauded for its initiatives in promoting small and emerging businesses to succeed and Two Rivers Platinum mine where Matla Sechaba Holdings works is no different. “I have the backing of our clients under a development plan for five years and with this assurance, we confidently ordered another Bell B30E ADT in 2024 as we really believe in this great product’s design and build that helps us deliver a sustained service to our supportive clients,” Lucy adds.
