Vuslat Bayoğlu
MD: Menar Holdings
‘The truth is that coal keeps evolving’
LONG a champion of the coal sector in South Africa, Vuslat Bayoğlu made several important strides last year to drive his group’s diversification into ferroalloys. In the process he demonstrated that Menar is becoming increasingly mainstream in the South African mining sector.
In August, Menar was one of 11 companies granted access to South Africa’s rail network as part of government reforms to increase rail volumes. Menar secured approved tonnages for thermal coal, manganese ore and manganese alloys. This development dovetails with Menar’s acquisition – through subsidiary Khwelamet – of Samancor’s former Metalloys manganese alloy smelter complex near Meyerton in Gauteng.Plans are to refurbish the complex and gradually restart production. The rail access means Menar can shift manganese ore from the Northern Cape to Meyerton while an additional allocation has been made to move manganese alloys from Meyerton to Durban.
In May, Menar also finalised the acquisition of the Springlake Colliery in KwaZulu-Natal which was in business rescue. This expands Menar’s existing footprint in anthracite through its Zululand Anthracite Colliery. Despite the gloom hanging over the South African ferroalloys sector Bayoğlu reckons the country “is on the cusp” of reviving the industry. All it needs is a few reforms – like affordable electricity and sorting out the logistical bottlenecks. Bayoğlu is strongly against the export of chrome and manganese ores, maintaining they should be upgraded here to support reindustrialisation. In the same vein, he believes South Africa’s priority should be to revive its coal-fired power stations.
LIFE OF VUSLAT
He is originally from Turkey but moved to South Africa in 2002 and got involved in the junior coal mining sector, eventually creating the unlisted Menar group, through which he holds his various interests. He holds a bachelor’s degree in applied science in mechanical engineering from Middle East Technical University. He is also a director of Richards Bay Coal Terminal and in October joined the Centre of Excellence for Integrated Mineral and Energy Resource Analysis, a joint venture between the Department of Science and Innovation and the National Research Foundation.
