Coal has a much bigger role to play in South Africa’s future than simply meeting the country’s energy requirements. Selim Kaymak, executive director of Sumo Coal, talks to Jayne Flannery.
Coal is fundamental to the South African economy. It is the main energy source for domestic use and a rapidly growing export revenue stream in response to demand from energy hungry nations like India and China, as well as South Africa’s neighbours in the region.
Approximately 90 per cent of the country’s coal reserves are located in the province of Mpumalanga in the famous coalfields of Witbank, Highveld, Ermelo and Kangwane. This is where Sumo Coal has been targeting its operations since its inception in 1995.
Sumo is an established coal mining company in South Africa with over 15 years experience in the mining industry. Sumo has a portfolio of exploration projects that span most of the Highveld and Ermelo coalfields. Over the years these projects have generated a string of subsidiaries in drilling, coal mining, beneficiating and marketing. Londani Coal, a company in which Sumo is a major shareholder, has rights to a producing open-cast mine within the Highveld coalfield. This has known reserves of five million tonnes of bituminous thermal grade coal and a further exploration project is poised to move into production later this year.
Sumo as well as its subsidiaries are compliant with ownership requirements as stipulated in the South African Mining Charter. Selim Kaymak, Sumo’s executive director, sees its mission as reaching far beyond the profitable exploration and extraction of coal. For Kaymak, these values begin with strong corporate governance that emphasises an ethical and socially responsible approach to business. “From the outset, we have set out to make a stand and lead by example as an ethical investor. Sumo’s company policy is to practice and follow ethically correct business policies in all its endeavours. We always work entirely within our country’s legal framework and adhere strictly to the detail of legal processes in every area of our operations.
“This is a position we have adopted not because we simply want to abide by the rules: it is a mindset which dictates that companies like ours can only contribute to South Africa’s wider social and economic development if they have an ethical approach to governance,” he continues. “It is a direction that stems from Sumo’s board of directors and a strict position that all our managers and staff must adhere to in their relationships with the government, our partners and all third parties.”
Sumo is an active member of Business Unity South Africa, or BUSA, which aims to ensure that businesses make a positive and constructive contribution to the country’s economic growth, development and transformation goals—not just within the mining industry, but within all sectors of South African society. “Mining is a very important element of the South African economy, but working through BUSA we aim to bring our influence and strive towards the progress of all companies in South Africa. We want to create an environment in which businesses of all sizes and in all sectors can thrive and grow, but in a way that supports South Africa’s goals for its people and development,” he explains.
Sumo’s dedication to the empowerment of the South African people has led to a strong commitment to education, particularly for the races affected by discrimination during the apartheid era. Education has been identified as one of the most important pillars in building a successful future for the country. In response, supporting educational initiatives lies at the heart of Sumo’s approach to corporate citizenship.
The company has already contributed towards building eight classrooms and sanitation facilities at Horizon International High School based in Turfontein, Johannesburg. It is now funding the construction of a school at Willow Glen, in the Tshwane Municipality of Pretoria. This ambitious project will cover an area of about 1, 100 hectares and will have 400 pupils. Both schools will implement a curriculum that stresses technology, mathematics and science—the subjects which are needed by the next generation of mine engineers, managers and technicians. The schools will also make a special point of reaching out to children from socially and economically disadvantaged communities.
From a commercial perspective, Kaymak believes that Sumo’s stance on ethics and strong management is equally important. “For example, it means we can make fast decisions about opportunities which can be quickly implemented—which is vital in this type of fast-moving business environment," he says.
Strong management also allows for a corporate culture in which capable people can fulfill their potential. Kaymak is proud of the team that the company has put together—250 staff are supported by several teams of external contractors. “We look for a mix of education and experience in our staff, but it does not matter how capable a person is as an individual: they have to be able to co-operate and work as part of a team. That is the most important criteria by which we judge individual success and when we recruit contractors,” he states.
This team-focused approach also plays a useful role in the execution of Sumo’s wider objectives. As a mining company, Sumo is particularly interested in forming joint ventures with companies that have prospecting or mining rights for coal, copper and other resources. For those that may not have the funding for such a huge project and would like to share the risk, Sumo can step in with investment and expertise, putting up funding for a project or resource which would be beneficial to both parties.
“In South Africa, we underline the importance of partnerships and joint ventures and our ethical stance means that everyone we deal with can have total confidence in our integrity. We believe this will help us to identify new partners who are the holders of prospecting and mining rights. Within Sumo, we have a proven in-house exploration company and the funds to bring new projects to production. Joint ventures are our future and we want others to come forward and work with us for the betterment of the nation.”
Looking to the future, Sumo’s key objectives are to continue creating a firm footprint as a diversified mining company across the African continent, and to pursue exciting opportunities and joint ventures with mining companies for coal, PGMs, iron ore and manganese. By doing so, it hopes to make a positive impact on not only the mining industry, but the future of South Africa as a whole.
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