Zanele Nkosi never imagined she’d one day be running a drilling company, breaking new ground, literally and figuratively in the male dominated South African mining industry. Yet in just five years, the 33 year old founder of Wellex Drilling, the only known women-owned drilling company in South Africa has built a reputation as one of the country’s most determined junior mining contractors, recently securing a landmark exploration contract in Namibia.
After matriculating in Ulundi, where she was born and raised, Zanele studied human resources with the aim of joining the corporate world. But during her internship in KwaZulu-Natal, she came across a farming operation that sparked a deep interest in agriculture. Inspired by what she saw she enrolled in an agriculture degree through UNISA and vowed that she would become a farmer one day.
While working in HR at a hospital group, Zanele made the decision to move to Johannesburg to join her life partner, a young entrepreneur hustling and trying to make a name for himself in the mining industry.
At first Zanele tried to look for a job, but the move, her partner’s involvement in mining, and her growing interest in agriculture began to shift her perspective on her career path. Among other things, she purchased coal mining rights to a farm in KwaZulu-Natal with the hope of raising additional finance.
Her breakthrough came unexpectedly while visiting her partner’s childhood village in Limpopo when she saw a contractor try to drill a borehole but failed to find water, despite the high cost of the attempt. Zanele was astounded by the inefficiency and thought, “surely I can do better than that.” Her research showed her that it was feasible. Not only was there a dire need for boreholes, but her partner also highlighted the demand for drilling rigs in the mining industry. By selling her mineral rights licence, she would have enough funds to purchase a truck and have it converted into a drilling rig, marking the beginning of her journey into the drilling business.
The Pretoria-based company that built the reverse-circulation drilling machine for Zanele seconded an operator who taught her how to use it and trained her team of workers. “And before I knew it I was a businesswoman,” says Zanele.
Sure enough, she struck water for her partner’s home village where the other contractors failed, and slowly but surely the orders for boreholes started trickling in as Zanele invested as much as she could into marketing.
Within a few months, the drilling rig started generating income, allowing Zanele to purchase an old core-drilling machine at an auction. The equipment helped her gain traction in the world of mineral exploration, as it extracts cylindrical rock from the ground that can be sent to a lab for analysis.
Wellex Drilling grew steadily, with Zanele gaining hands on experience not only in the mining sector, but also the challenges of project and business management. One of the most persistent challenges, she notes, was dealing with delayed or missed payments from municipalities.
She finds scepticism toward women is more pronounced in the mining industry than in the water-drilling sector. Her response has been to build excellent highly skilled teams to operate each drill and to consistently deliver quality work.
Following a strategy of growth by one machine at a time, Zanele approached the banks to finance a core-drilling machine that had the ability to drill at an angle. She needed millions, but the banks, including her own, were only willing to lend her a fraction of the amount.
Business Partners Limited, however, was willing to take a risk, based on Zanele’s entrepreneurial acumen and the prospects of her industry. With finance of more than R2 million, she was able to commission a brand-new core drilling rig.
Today, Wellex Drilling operates with a dedicated team of fifteen employees from its headquarters in Bryanston and is ready for more growth. Zanele has secured a landmark exploration drilling contract in Rehoboth, Namibia. Mobilisation of equipment and personnel is already underway, with drilling scheduled to commence in August 2025.
In addition to this international milestone, Wellex Drilling has also been awarded the prestigious Council for Geoscience tender, further solidifying its reputation as a trusted partner in complex geological projects. These achievements underscore the company’s readiness to take on high-impact assignments both within South Africa and beyond its borders.
In the meantime, Zanele is finishing her agriculture degree and is holding on to her dream of one day adding farming to her business achievements.
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