05 Aug 2014

The BCL Mine management has come up with a strategy to prolong the life of the mine as well as diversify its resources and operations from being a single commodity to a diversified business enterprise

Speaking during the state of the mine during press briefing in Selebi Phikwe recently, general manager, Mr Dan Mahupela, said the mine, which was 100 per cent wholly owned by Botswana government had engaged in a corporate strategy termed Polaris II which the mine intended to explore and expand its operations beyond Selebi Phikwe area.

Mr Mahupela said the mine was looking for operations within a radius of 1 500 km thus encroaching in neighbouring countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa to search for other minerals other than nickel and copper.

BCL boost of the best smelter facility in the region and the mine would keep on modernising it to be effective which was an attraction, and we have partnered with Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited (ZCCM) the largest company in Zambia where BCL was creating a foot print about its capability, he said.

He said with the expertise and resources, the strategy would position the company as a regional metallurgical hub and would continue to lure suitors to partner with.

“We have a reputation on the basis that we are a Botswana company and would be easy to approach capital investors to fund our strategy. We want to transform BCL as the largest company in Botswana and create Selebi Phikwe as the third largest city in the country through this Polaris II strategy,” he said.

Government is currently the largest employer in the country and in the next 25 years we want to be seen creating a lot of employment for the nation. On another development, he said BCL engaged two companies who are finalising the feasibility studies about setting up a sulphur plant to capture the sulphur dioxde.

We produce a lot of waste which we want to convert to value and in the process to construct a sulphur plant and also want to extract iron from the sludge. The move, he said would create employment and reduce waste dumped into the environment.

Concerning safety in the mine, he said the mine has a safety health and environment record which is important in the operations of the mine. Going underground was against the laws of nature but the underground operations are not dangerous but we have to ensure that our workers are safe indicating that BCL mine lowest grades boost of a good safety record in Southern Africa.

The mines divisional manager, corporate strategy, Mr Mack William also shared the similar sentiments, by saying the mine was looking for minerals to take them in the next 40 years and was creating a psychological shift of relying on nickel and copper.

The expertise we have would drastically help us move away from Selebi Phikwe and the geological explorations are proving that the mine’s life span would be prolonged and sustainable. The Polaris II strategy according to the manager transforms the mine to multiple of revenue strength as proved by the explorations they have conducted.


We would continue to mine and smelter to build a regional base, he stated. Mr William said Selebi Phikwe being the centre of Southern Africa present a better and the concentrates they were exploring in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia would be smelted in the town since they have already established readily available infrastructure.

The anchor is in the smelter which has to be modernised and we are rebuilding it to be relevant for Southern Africa nickel concentrates, he stated.
The modernisation of the smelter plant would help the company to get nearly 100 per cent nickel and the mine was expecting a lot of copper from the western part of Botswana with explorations in Gantsi and Zambia.

Mr William said BCL was conducting feasibility study to explore coal in Mahalapye and probably have a coal production circuit because it requires a lot of energy in its operations and announcements would be made by this year concerning the project. ENDS