Trollope Mining Services provides surface mining expertise and services to the mining industry. Its journey is an uplifting story of triumph over adversity.

By Ian Armitage

Trollope Mining Services provides surface mining expertise and services to the mining industry. It was formed in 1975 when two brothers, Peter and John, bravely took their first steps in business and started off by purchasing ex-military equipment from auctions. They used their farm as a base, reusing their new acquisitions on short-term contracts clearing farms.

They then moved onto small-scale mining.

During those early days the brothers saw their business outgrow the farm, prompting a move down to Johannesburg. They focussed predominantly on the coal mining sector, but ventured too into manganese, gold and platinum.

“Trollope has traditionally specialised in open pit mining; taking significant volumes from the ground, drilling and blasting it, removing the rock and stock piling the usable ore material,” Managing Director Guy Hopkins explains. “The company’s main facility is now situated just outside Johannesburg - incorporating head offices and workshops. There are also bases in Thabazimbi and Ogies. Every contract also has its own workshops and offices on site.

“We are today a formidable business in the medium-sized opencast mining sector.”

Current services include opencast mining, rehabilitation, bulk earthworks, plant hire, crushing & screening and road construction, he says.

“We have substantial operations on different mines in the coal, andalusite, gold and platinum industries and have a substantial fleet of equipment. Over the years we have enjoyed a sound working relationship with several well-known companies including Anglo Platinum, Xstrata Coal, Anglo Coal, Exxaro, Kumba Resources, and Goldfield.”

According to Hopkins, for many years Trollope’s biggest contract was with Xstrata in South Africa.

However, when the crash came in 2008, some of the agreements had to be terminated due to economics.

“The client ended up closing half of their mines and cancelling most of their contracts with 28 days notice. Trollope lost 80 percent of their turnover in a month. Ironically, however, it was these cancellations that have been a catalyst for the company’s transformation.”

He says the company started to take on a greater variety of contracts among the junior to middle mining houses.

“The economic downturn made us look at the bigger picture,” Hopkins explains. “I think in hindsight it was undoubtedly a good thing that we were freed from the some of the long-term contracts, as it enabled us to pursue other options.”

In the past Trollope was far too exposed in one single sector, with one client. Now it has an impressive range of clients, projects in several different sectors of the industry, a great reputation and a steady cash flow.

“In terms of our future, there are plans to expand within key African areas, notably Zambia and Botswana – we want to expand the business.

“Our order book is almost full. We probably went into the downturn quicker than anyone else, so we managed to emerge from it quicker and equip ourselves for the future,” says Hopkins. “Some of the other guys are still carrying old contracts at poor rates at not getting the yields or profitability.”

Significantly, the company has also had the opportunity to fine tune its equipment policy as well as revamp the way it does business.

All primary machinery must now be new with a high level of availability, ensuring it has the longest possible life span, while also providing reliability and exceptional performance.

“Peter and John are still very much involved in the company and are as passionate as ever,” Hopkins says. “John is involved in the plant side, where he is currently mentoring an up and coming manager, and Peter is lending his considerable acumen to business development.

“We are keen to retain a family ethos within the business, while still embracing core corporate principals, with structured systems, policies and procedures. It’s about striking the right balance.”

Trollope Mining Services was recently appointed mining contractor at Junior South African coal exploration and development company Continental Coal’s coal project in Vlakvarkfontein, in Mpumalanga province

Under the terms of the initial three-year contract mining agreement, Trollope will be responsible for the management of the site and all the mining and crushing activities.

“We are delighted to have got this,” says Hopkins.

Trollope was selected following a highly competitive bid process, during which a number of major mining contractors submitted tenders. The awarding of the mining contract followed a rigid selection and review process that included an assessment of the mining contractors’ credentials, capabilities, equipment and labour availability, as well as visits to a number of their existing contracting operations.

“The mine is located in the Delmas area, adjacent to State-owned power utility Eskom’s Kendal power station,” says Hopkins.

The colliery has a measured resource of 17 million tons and is to be developed as a conventional opencast mining operation. It is forecast to produce 350,000 t/y of A-grade and B-grade export-quality coal and one million tons a year of domestic-quality coal over the mine’s initial 10-year life.

“We offer a more complete service to clients,” adds Hopkins. “At the moment for us, it is very buoyant. We’ve picked up a couple new jobs.

“There is general buoyancy in the market,” he says. “For the last year we have been pricing tenders left, right and centre. Obviously with the gold price coming up, with economies of scale you can actually go down deeper and make it more viable. And with Eskom and the coal requirements there is a lot of opportunity and a lot of junior miners have started up.

Trollope’s journey is an uplifting triumph over adversity.