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When Murtala Laushi steps into a boardroom, there’s an unmistakable mix of energy and calm that fills the room—like the low rumble of an oncoming train.
As chairman and CEO of Malcomines, Laushi has steered the once-modest outfit into a titan of Nigeria’s mining and mineral resources sector. Through a blend of strategic tenacity and a personal touch, he’s built a company that today spans iron ore, copper, tin, and rare earth elements—etched into the very landscapes of Nigeria’s north-central territories.
The Road to Malcomines
Born in Jos in the early 1970s, Laushi grew up amid the towering tin hills and fading colonial mine shafts that carpet Plateau State. His childhood fascination with the land’s hidden bounty was nurtured by long afternoons spent with his grandfather, a retired mining supervisor who’d recount tales of bygone boomtowns and boom-and-bust cycles.
Laushi went on to study geology at Ahmadu Bello University, immersing himself in fieldwork across Osun, Ondo, and Kogi. Those early years as a field geologist hardened him—physically and intellectually. He watched the machinery break down, saw naive investors flee after a single failed assay, and sensed gaps between Nigeria’s immense potential and global investor readiness.
By the time he founded Malcomines in 2003, Laushi had already earned a reputation as a dealmaker—someone who could navigate both rural chiefs and international finance houses with equal ease.
Scaling Quickly but Thoughtfully
Most mining startups in Nigeria shrink or stall. Malcomines didn’t. Under Laushi’s watchful leadership, the company secured its first export permit in 2006, shipping concentrated iron ore to steel plants in Asia. A decade later, he negotiated a joint-venture agreement with a mid-tier Chinese miner to develop copper deposits in Benue State.
But the story isn’t just one of mergers and mega‑miners. Laushi retained strict control over community engagement—rooted in trust, not just corporate social responsibility checklists. Villages around Malcomines’s sites received clean water systems funded by the company. Education grants for the children of traditional miners and annual town-hall style feedback sessions became standard.
While competitors broadcast flashy capital-raising drives and stock listings, Laushi preferred low-profile yet steep incorporation into Nigeria’s formal mining sector. By 2020, Malcomines held stakes in over 15 concessions, employed more than 4,000 locals directly, and created another 10,000 indirect jobs, according to company estimates.
Intersecting Worlds: Polo and Philanthropy
Off the mining grid, Laushi lives a life that might surprise observers. He’s a devoted polo player—an unexpected passion for someone rooted in Nigeria’s rural mining heartlands. It began when he encountered a British expatriate playing in Kaduna. Drawn in by the sport’s blend of strategy, athleticism, and equine culture, he acquired a string of polo ponies in 2012.
These days he’s often seen in the grandstand of the Abuja Polo Club, or spurring his team on at the annual Crystal Cup. A few years ago, he founded the Malcomines Polo Classic, an event that now draws patrons from Lagos’s oil-and-gas elite and Europe’s polo circuits. Spectators come for the sport, but often end up intrigued by the story behind the name emblazoned on banners—another quiet touchpoint between his private passion and his public enterprise.
Yet the polo whites and afternoon matches tell only part of his philanthropic tapestry. He runs the Laushi Family Foundation, a vehicle for deeper social causes—school scholarships, women’s vocational training, and sustainable agriculture initiatives. After flooding devastated Kaduna State in 2021, the foundation swiftly brought in mobile grain dryers, requested feedstock supplies, and worked with local co-ops to replant rice paddies—impacting thousands in vulnerable rural communities.
Through the foundation, Laushi also supports urban healthcare. He underwrites semi-annual eye-screening clinics in Lagos and Kano, and sponsors free surgeries for cataract patients in partnership with Médecins Sans Frontières. To him, these aren’t flagship programs—they’re neighborhood interventions. He insists funding be pledged for at least five years at a time, ensuring long-term consistency rather than headline-chasing.
Leadership in an Unforgiving Sector
Mining is a volatile, capital-intensive business—especially in West Africa. Price cycles crash unexpectedly, regulatory regimes shift with political transitions, and infrastructure remains underdeveloped. That Malcomines weathered commodity slumps in 2008 and 2015, and a pandemic-induced slowdown in 2020, speaks to Laushi’s conservatism, and his insistence on maintaining moderate debt levels and flexible mine designs.
It’s a playbook that’s paid off. In 2024, the company announced a $200 million refinancing deal with African and Middle Eastern banks to fund its anticipated shift into lithium extraction—positioned to supply Europe’s booming electric-vehicle battery industry. Analysts say that transition could triple Malcomines’s market value within five years.
Still, Laushi is realistic. “We’re not invincible,” he told me over mid-morning tea in his Abuja office. His desk is tidy, framed awards modest: a local mining industry leadership plaque, a 2022 national philanthropy medal. No pomp, just purpose.
Looking Ahead
In the next decade, Murtala Laushi wants Malcomines to become a pan-African champion—not through acquisitions alone, but through knowledge transfer. He envisions training academies in Tanzania or Zambia, shared R&D in exploration technology, and cross-border partnerships that raise the bar for ethical mining.
He’s also quick to say that polo isn’t just a pastime—it’s a proving ground for character. “On the field, you learn humility,” he once admitted. “One moment you lead, the next your pony stumbles.” The lesson, he suggests, is universal—a grounding in success and a safeguard against hubris.
When asked what drives him, Laushi leans forward and smiles. Not capital returns, not industry accolades, but something simpler. “I want what my grandfather saw,” he says: that beneath the red earth there is wealth—and with the right hands and the right heart, that wealth can lift communities, not just balance sheets.
In an industry too often associated with boom-and-bust cycles and extractive impulses, Murtala Laushi—and Malcomines under his stewardship—stands out by threading soil, steel, and social responsibility into a cohesive narrative. It’s the story of a man committed to transforming the landscapes he knows so well—inside the boardroom, on the polo pitch, in the marketplace, and in the lives of ordinary Nigerians.