Tribute by Pat, Frank, Tim and Alistair
Norman Slater died on December 6, 2013.
Knowing him, he would have been indignant at the inconvenience of such an occurrence – he still had so much left to do!
The archetypical entrepreneur with a flair for the unusual, Norman didn’t start off that way. He began his working career as a bank trainee with only a Matric certificate to his name. This was followed by a stint as farm manager on his father’s sugarcane farm in Mtubatuba. When the farm was sold, legend has it that Norman and Merry arrived in Dundee in 1981 in a borrowed Peugeot 404, with their very small children Guy and Cara in the back and very little else. Quite why he went into mining is the stuff of legend, as he had no experience whatsoever in this field. He started mining the Dave Thompson resource at Wesselsnek. His only equipment at that time was a Cat 920 Front End Loader, an antediluvian Caterpillar D8 bulldozer, a D4 and a three-wheeler Spider. Trains were loaded with only the Spider and the 920, a feat which would be considered impossible today. Norman also built his own coal beneficiation washing plant. In order to do so he bought some equipment from the old Endumeni Mine. Unfortunately, most of his purchases were situated on the top floor of their old washing plant. As usual, Norman made a plan by using his Mercedes truck and block and tackle to move the machinery out of the building and onto the ground. Today, one would require heavy cranes and compliance with a thousand safety regulations.
Over the years, Norman’s operations covered opencast mining and the rehabilitation of the Grinaker open pits at Steincoal Spruit; the Annandale Opencast contract for GEFCO and contract mining for CBR at Ngagane and Tendeka; and the Talana Opencast adjacent to the Dundee Museum. His first coal exports left South Africa via the MV Nordhine in 2002.
Ever the opportunist, Norman also entered into a contract to mine diamonds at Winsorton in the Northern Cape, and in 2000 he and Tim Swanepoel opened the Beatrice Diamond Mine near Douglas in the Northern Cape and operated it for six years. Slater Coal took over the old Consol glassworks from CBR Mining/Capital Coal, and in 1997 they built a centralised washing plant utilising coal from Talana Opencast Aviemore Underground Colliery, which started in 2000; Magdalena Opencast in 2003; and Magdalena Underground in 2004. From humble beginnings, with a workforce of some 30 people, Slater Coal grew to employing 450 people by 2010. But the strain told on Norman – after a brush with cancer and needing to take things easier, he and his brother Peter decided to sell Slater Coal to Forbes Coal in March 2010. After a two-year take-over period, Forbes took control from March 1, 2012. Norman once told me that he felt rather at a loss after relinquishing the helm, sitting fishing on the beach and watching everyone else go to work. Not one to sit on his hands for too long, he then became involved in a housing development project on the north coast in partnership with his brother John. Merry and Norman also bought a house in Nottingham Road.
Norman and Peter have been involved in an opencast mining venture at Witkop in the Free State for some time, which will eventually provide coal to Eskom. Nicknamed ‘Stormin’ Norman’ by his associates, when I was first employed by Slater Coal in 2004 I remember that Norman had an explosive temper which rose to the surface on occasion. Frank recalls that, on throwing his toys out of the cot, Norman was able to dance the ‘Macarena’ with some skill. That notwithstanding, most of his people stayed with him through thick and thin. There were tough times – even times when there was not enough money to pay salaries – but you always knew that, come what may, Norman would back you in times of trouble. He had no airs and graces about him. He used the walk-in safe as his office in the old premises at Karellandman Street – something which shocked visitors who expected the Managing Director to occupy a nice, plush, luxurious office.
Others went out to expensive lunches – Norman invariably had a packet of two brown sandwiches.
He built a remarkable little business over 30 years, and left a legacy to be proud of.