Morné Du Plessis

WE described Morné Du Plessis last year as a “world-class optimist” but guess what, his optimism paid off as international steam-coal prices went through the roof because of the energy crisis created by the war in Ukraine. The soaring prices – the spot price FOB (free on board) Richards Bay went above $400/t at one stage – made it not only viable but very profitable for Minergy to truck coal from its Masama mine in Botswana to international customers via the ports of Walvis Bay and Maputo.

As the proverb says, “it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good”, and Minergy can make profits on these exports for as long as the coal price stays above $250/t. Du Plessis commented in October that, “Minergy is currently flooded by requests from the industrial and power-generation markets to secure supply.” This happy situation only came through in the fourth quarter of Minergy’s financial year to end-June 2022 but it still allowed the company to push Masama to its full production rate and produce record volumes of coal for the year. For the first three quarters Masama had been holding back production and building stocks because of slowing demand.

Du Plessis reckons the strong coal market conditions should last for another year at least and he intends making the most of them. He is going to prioritise refinancing some of Minergy’s “punitive” debt arrangements and is looking at listing on an international exchange during the 2023 calendar year. Minergy is currently only listed on the Botswana stock exchange. He’s also looking to attract further investment in the business, with a view to doubling capacity.