South African entrepreneur Prince Mashabela’s Tau Matla company continues to make waves in the mining industry as it embarks on a groundbreaking contract for 10 base vessels with a value exceeding R1.4 billion. This remarkable achievement demonstrates the company’s evolution from a commodity trading entity to a key player dedicated to uplifting communities, empowering investors, and promoting the inherent beauty of the mining industry, particularly in Africa. With a successful turnover of R127 million achieved in just 40 days, Tau Matla has proven its resilience and business acumen in navigating the industry’s challenges.
Tau Matla initially began its journey as a commodity trading company. However, driven by a vision to foster collaboration between communities and overseas investors, the company has expanded its focus. Recognizing the importance of educating the public about the mining industry, Tau Matla aims to provide insightful and well-articulated information regarding the role minerals play in daily life, entrepreneurial opportunities within the sector, country case studies, and initiatives aimed at empowering the less fortunate.
The mining industry is notorious for its complex regulatory landscape and market fluctuations. However, Tau Matla, under the leadership of Prince Mashabela, has displayed exceptional resilience and adaptability. Despite these hurdles, the company achieved an impressive turnovers in 2022 , a testament to the dedication and passion of its team. This success has allowed Tau Matla to position itself as a reliable and trusted partner in the industry.
Securing a Transformative Contract
This contract marks a significant milestone for the company, highlighting its capability to undertake large-scale projects and solidify its position as a key player in the mining industry. The vessels will play a vital role in supporting various mining operations, underscoring Tau Matla’s commitment to driving sustainable practices and contributing to the industry’s growth.
Beyond its financial achievements, Tau Matla remains committed to promoting economic development and collaboration. By empowering communities and facilitating partnerships between local stakeholders and international investors, the company aims to create shared value and ensure that mining activities benefit all involved parties. Tau Matla’s approach focuses on education, upliftment, and sustainable practices, aiming to drive positive change and social transformation.
Prince Mashabela’s Tau Matla company continues to make significant strides in the mining industry. With a successful turnover in the previous year, the company’s resilience and business acumen are evident. As the company continues to empower communities, educate the masses, and drive sustainable practices, its impact on economic development and social transformation is set to be far-reaching.
We had an interview with Prince Mashabela about this new deal and what it means for their business positioning and communities they are serving below;
1. Can you provide more details about the groundbreaking contract, what are the key aspects of this contract, and how will it contribute to the company’s growth and development?
Thank you, Bruce, for the question. We have worked on this deal for some time. As a company, our whole concept was to bring in something that will help the company grow in terms of longevity. So, this is the deal that we went for. The deal is spread out over three years and it allows us to grow our business in terms of our portfolio and gives us more of a stable outlook in the global markets. It also makes us a global player. It’s important that we are seen as global players. We look to focus on getting more currencies and exporting with different currencies. I think it’s a good step forward for us, so much that it’s something that should be inspirational for other up-and-coming miners and upcoming trading houses to focus on the long-term. The long-term is where you want to be. It helps you grow your business, gives you stability, and provides access to finances from global banks. We’re currently banking in three different jurisdictions, which are South Africa, the Middle East, and Hong Kong, China. So, it has really helped us a lot. My job in this deal would be to make sure that we work on one vessel every quarter for export, and that’s what we’ll be doing every year. We’ve already started, and it’s going well so far. Yes, we look forward to making sure that we can deliver on the contract.
2. In what ways has Tau Matla transformed from a commodity trading entity to a key player in the mining industry? How has the company’s focus on uplifting communities, empowering investors, and promoting the beauty of the mining industry influenced its business strategy and operations?
Tau Matla has, in a way, transformed the commodity trading space because we have realized that you don’t necessarily have to start off by owning assets to be in the trading business. You just need to understand the product that you’re selling and make sure that you have a market that starts locally and grows to become abroad. That gives you more recognition, respect for your company, and boosts your profile in terms of business and how other companies see you. In terms of the community, it is always good for the communities who have commodities but struggle with trading the commodities. That’s where we come in. We come in from an exploration process where we help the community start from Greenfield and explore the assets that they have. So, we can then help and connect them with investors, or we ourselves invest in that particular commodity. It’s something we’re passionate about. The community is not taught how to understand managing their commodities and finding the right investors. Instead, they end up mining incorrectly using illegal miners, which is what a lot of communities do because they don’t have experience. They have no idea that companies like us are out there that could help them. We help them get their commodities off the ground and create a better future and stability for the communities. There’s a lot that goes into it, and we take pride in it. The community comes first, and they always have to benefit. That’s why we would always do certain things like giving them a price per ton and royalty fees on all the commodities that come out of that particular mine, as well as opening an investment trust for the community. This keeps the market share within the company. It’s something that we are very passionate about.
3. The mining industry can be volatile and challenging. How has Tau Matla demonstrated resilience and business acumen in navigating these industry-specific challenges? What measures has the company taken to mitigate risks and ensure its continued success?
Tau Matla doesn’t focus on just one commodity. We make sure that we follow the market. If you look at the market and you trade only one commodity, it fluctuates. We don’t just focus on coal. Yes, we trade coal. We export coal to the Middle East. But we also export lithium, chrome, manganese, mineral sand. We’re focusing on oil at the moment, diesel, vanadium, crude oil, and the list goes on. We always focus on different commodities and precious metals, and we follow the markets. If the market is down for one product, we look at which product is stable, and then we go back to speaking with exporters and our takers to see what product we can export for them that’s strong in the market. This helps everybody benefit. We all get to make something out of that specific product. So, we always make sure that we don’t just trade or confine ourselves to one commodity. That’s how we manage to always have business throughout.
4.Could you elaborate on Tau Matla’s financial performance, particularly its successful turnover of R127 million in the last financial quarter of 2022? What factors have contributed to this success, and how does the company plan to sustain and further improve its financial performance in the future?
Well, it’s a combination of many things. First of all, it wasn’t our turnover for 2022. We had a much bigger turnover. It was a turnover that we managed to put together within 40 days during the hardest time in trading because we worked throughout December, even though it was the holidays. It was very difficult, but in the end, we managed to get through. Through hard work, dedication, and a strong team of people that contributed, we worked very hard across the line, and we managed to get the ship here on time and get the product out on time. It was one of the biggest challenges we’ve ever had, but we learned a lot. We gained experience as well, and we learned so much about working under pressure. Our planning was really great, even though we had a very tight schedule. But we managed to do it, and we got the approval. That was something quite inspiring for us to be able to generate such a large turnover in such a short space of time. It’s definitely a milestone for a small company like ours, so it’s quite big for us.
5.With the groundbreaking contract and the company’s evolution, what impact does Tau Matla anticipate having on the mining industry, particularly in Africa? How does the company plan to leverage this achievement to create positive change, not only for its stakeholders but also for the broader communities it operates in?
We take pride in uplifting communities. Communities are our number one focus within our business. We want to ensure that wherever we get the commodities from, we are able to give back to the communities and educate them. Education is very important. We want to be seen as the big brother that teaches and gives them a gateway to knowledge. So, we always have the community at number one. In terms of our evolution, I think we have already started evolving, and we go where the times go. We are looking at investing in many key areas. We’re currently looking at investing in labs. We would also like to invest in modern technology for open-cast mining. We are currently developing a trading platform that will give opportunities to all small traders and small mine owners to be able to look at the market. At the moment, there is no way for a small mine to view the market without paying high annual fees just to see pricing in China. We want to make sure we give access to all our people. So, that’s something exciting that we are working on—an innovation. We’re also working on better labs that are going to be created by a sister company. That’s pretty much what is exciting for us as a company and what we’re working on at the moment.
