African mining news: from humble origins
It was his drive and passion for business that led Khomotso Moleke to build his geotechnical company up from the ground. M84 Geotech is a geotechnical company specialising in supply and installation of rockfall protection and mitigation systems, slope stabilisation and slope monitoring. It is accredited by The Institute for Work at Height, providing services in mining (open and underground), construction, building maintenance and the public sector.
Founding CEO Khomotso Moleke explains, “Our aim is to keep those who are working under any possible rockfall safe by putting reliable and effective measures in place to avoid harm to people or equipment. We install rockfall barriers, draped or anchored mesh-and-catch fences on high walls at open-pit mines for safe and controlled rockfalls and slope stabilisation. The mesh is applicable for underground support structures as well.” M84 Geotech falls under Moleke's M84 Holdings, which also includes M84 Properties: his management and development company that specialises in developing luxury residential properties and property acquisition.
Humble origins
He shares how M84 Geotech came into existence: “The company was founded in 2014. Initially, we were just a mine contractor and did any job that came along because the vision was not clear at the time. The main service we provided was the supply of mining safety cones.” After some time, the company was introduced to high-wall maintenance at Mogalakwena mine and trained a few of its employees to provide this service. “One of our first project was what we call 'barring down'. Barring down is when you move loose rocks on a high wall or rock debris on slope benches for safety of those working at the foot of the slope. Because each time there's a blast or failure, there are rocks that come loose on the high walls,” Moleke explains. “There was only one contractor doing this, and the mine was looking at empowering local black companies.
We looked at it, we studied it, and saw it was an opportunity for us to grow our company. Because what we were doing with the mining safety cones wasn’t really sustainable.” The company has made much progress since then, but is still a relatively young player in the geotechnical industry. Moleke says the vision is to become a leading player in the supply and installation of rockfall protection and slope stabilisation systems on the continent. “When people think about rockfall protection and slope stabilisation, I want our name to be associated with that. The goal now for us is to increase our footprint; although we are very grateful to our current client, for growth and sustainability we need to get ourselves out there and service more mines.”