Government to decide fate of top Botswana nickel miner shortly, says minster

GABORONE – The Botswana government has set up a cabinet task force of five ministers to study the business model and operations of its troubled nickel miner Bamangwato Concession Limited (BCL) in order to decide on whether to fund, place the mine on care and maintenance or shut down operations completely.

Minerals, Water and Energy Minister Kitso Mokaila told a press conference in Gaborone on Wednesday that the task-force would also look into the possible ripple effects on the rest of the economy in the event that government decided to exercise of any of the three options under consideration.

He said the three options were recommended by a recent government study of the miner’s operations: “We approached cabinet concerning BCL against the background of record low nickel prices worldwide. We advised cabinet that there were three options left that needed utmost attention because they will not be easy decisions.

"Should government re-invest in BCL? How much would be injected into the mine, and what would this means to other parts of the economy? The second option was to place the mine on care and maintenance. Lastly, we could shut down the mine and then assess what impact that could have on BCL business partners and employees,” he said.

He said the government, which under-wrote a $100-million credit facility to save the company from collapse three months ago, could no longer afford to fund BCL as readily as it did in the past because the economy was struggling through a crisis.

"In the past, when we had a sound economy, we could have simply considered the cash injection option with hopes of making decent returns. But now, any decisions made on one part of the economy can adversely affect the other critical parts. We will decide on what to do with BCL shortly, and an announcement will be made,” Mokaila said.

Apart from being shackled by financial problems arising from internal issues and external factors such as the global downturn in copper/nickel prices, BCL has been hit by a series of mine accidents which analysts fear could negate the company’s chances of attracting the prospective investors to bail it out.

Four workers died and eight were seriously injured in three separate incidents in May and June. The incidents involved a collapsed ore face and two transporter cages which malfunctioned while hauling workers between the surface and underground working stations.