Idwala Industrial Holdings

Growing crops, feeding livestock, building infrastructure, supplementing industrial processes – growing the economy; the products delivered by South Africa’s Idwala Industrial Holdings catalyse development and progress.

The company, owned by the Bud Group, works across industrial minerals, mainly lime, carbonates, pyrophyllite, and magnetite, servicing a diverse client base with high quality minerals that are essential in various projects in agriculture, construction, infrastructure, and much more.

Idwala’s world class mining operation near Port Shepstone, KZN is famous for producing the whitest carbonates available anywhere in the world. A processing plant in Phalaborwa upgrades magnetite that is extracted as a by-product of phosphate mining. A large mining and processing operation in Danielskuil in the Northern Cape produces high-grade calcitic limestone for a range of uses, and a milling operation in Benoni transforms pyrophyllite mined from Witpoort in North West for use in the paint and coatings industry.

Idwala is nationally significant through the products it provides and opportunities it creates among its more than 800 people.

GM Carbonates, Industrial Minerals and Magnetite, Atang Maboee, explains that Idwala consistently invests in growth and advancement, nurturing a culture of excellence that local competition cannot match.

“Idwala is a big company but the opportunities you are given allow for recognition for good performance,” he tells Enterprise Africa.

Joining the business after varsity, Maboee took advantage of the Idwala bursary, studying mining at Wits. He came back the company starting out as a trainee engineer. “I was fortunate to be thrown in at the deep end because of the needs of the business at that time. I had the opportunity to work on different projects outside of just mining and I worked in a plant in Johannesburg before returning to carbonates as a quarry superintendent.”

He quickly demonstrated a strong skillset and became quarry manager, taking on more and more responsibility over a short period. He oversaw the pyrophyllite and magnetite operations before becoming GM for the entire carbonate portfolio. In 2017, he joined the Executive Committee and in 2021 Maboee was appointed as a board member, aged 31.

Today, he leads Idwala’s industrial minerals division and is excited about new technology being introduced to drive efficiency.

“Our new ore sorter is a big thing for Idwala and for the Bud Group in terms of what it will bring for the business and within sustainability.

“In industrial minerals, we mine calcium carbonate which we process through crushing, screening, and lengthy beneficiation to improve quality (chemistry and colour) via reverse floatation. From this business, we supply three core markets: Agriculture, where our product is used for treating soil; animal feed, where our product is a calcium supplement, particularly for chickens; and the glass industry with two major companies as key clients. On the higher end, we also supply the plastics and coatings industry where our product is used as a filler,” he details.

SOLUTIONS PROVIDER

Maboee’s focus for the future is to see Idwala enhance its reputation as mining and industrial minerals business, becoming more involved with its clients, and becoming a solutions provider. He wants to see the company use its vast knowledge and expertise to become extensions of client businesses, solving problems wherever necessary and adding value.

“We have established a technical partnership with the country’s leading supplier of calcium carbonate where our goal is to continue as a leading provider in sub-Saharan Africa while working on projects where we add value. Our focus has shifted from being a commodity supplier of calcium carbonate to being a company that provides solutions for our customers. We are solution-driven and we add to the value chain,” he says.

This focus will allow Idwala to grow alongside its clients, reducing risk in the long-term.

“In magnetite, we upgrade and process to a fine grade to supply the coal washing industry. We supply locally but we also export to Zambia where it is used in a separation process to upgrade the coal. We have recently increased our capacity from 120,000 to 150,000 tons and we align with growth of our customer in that region,” he adds.

“We mine limestone, we process it through calcination on kilns to produce calcium oxide, and that goes into the pyrometallurgical, water purification, and flue gas desulphurisation industries where our main customer is Eskom, treating the sulphur that comes out of their processes. Eskom has challenges but as their demand grows, we will grow too.”

The Bud Group is a keen supporter of growth within its portfolio and has been on the expansion journey recently acquiring Walvis Bay Salt in Namibia in 2018 and Hubble Lithium earlier this year.

Being part of a company and group with ambition for growth is stimulating and promotes forward-thinking through innovation. Maboee is thankful for the opportunities he has gained with Idwala and is looking forward to continued expansion of the business, using a perfectly crafted skillset to deliver.

“Being a young leader, specifically in KZN, was a tough challenge but is something that I am proud of. When I came onboard, the unit was making a loss at a net operating level. Turning that around in a year, and increasing the EBITDA within two years was a real success. It’s a steep learning curve but I am in a company that enables growth and learning,” he says.

With this culture, as well as an ongoing focus on quality process and product, Idwala is well-positioned to thrive as the markets it serves boom. Critically, Idwala is a company that customers know they can rely on, and this encourages positivity within. As the economy and the country search for expansion, Idwala stands as an engine of growth – exactly what is required in South Africa right now.