Danie Pretorius
CEO: Master Drilling
‘We really think the way mining has been done for the past century must change’
DANIE Pretorius hasn’t kept his company alive in an extremely cyclical industry for nearly 40 years by taking unnecessary risks. Master Drilling’s activities extend across several continents, several commodities and industries and various currencies. Gearing is kept low and the dividend cover is a high 4.5 to five times. However, this is a business with a lot of capital tied up in equipment, and the goal is a fleet utilisation rate of 75%.
The insistence of the auditors at half-year that Master Drilling take an impairment on equipment that is currently on the shelf, waiting for deployment elsewhere, knocked back basic share earnings and did not reflect the underlying resilience of the business. Pretorius is constantly looking at ways to help mining companies mechanise to speed up delivery of projects, improve safety and cut operating costs, and technological innovation is vital. Master Drilling has also made some strategic acquisitions, such as GeoServe, Atlantis Group and stakes in A&R Group and AVA.
In the past year, Master Drilling has been refining three new technologies: a shaft boring system, with a second-generation, larger-diameter version on the horizon; a redesign of the low-profile MTB to incorporate lessons learnt from testing; and a tabular and narrow reef borer system being deployed at African Rainbow Minerals. Pretorius is also looking at ways to expand beyond traditional drilling, and is particularly interested in the potential to use artificial intelligence.
LIFE OF DANIE
Pretorius established Master Drilling in Fochville in 1986 and listed it on the JSE in 2012. In 2000 Master Drilling put its first self-designed machine, a low-profile raise bore and blind hole drill, to work in South Africa. Over the years, it has grown its geographical spread and client base considerably, as well as the number of product innovations. Pretorius, who holds an engineering Government Certificate of Competency, worked on South African mines for six years before he started his own company.
