02 Jun 2016

Vice President Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi says BCL Mine will be enlisted under the government’s Mineral Development Company (MDC).

Mr Masisi said this when addressing BCL Mine employees at the mine, where he came to convey a message of condolences on behalf of President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama and government to bereaved families and mine workers following an accident at South East Extension shaft that left four miners dead and six injured on May 29. 

He also visited the mine to give workers assurance that proper parallel investigations by the inspector of mines and independent mine auditors would be carried out to find out the cause of the accident. The results of the investigations would determine or inform BCL Mine and the government on what action to take to avert such accidents from occurring in future. 

Mr Masisi said investigators would arrive at BCL Mine soon. He requested workers to assist and work hand in hand with them.

The Mineral Development Company is the government’s mining company, which is a parent company to all government’s mining companies, he said.

The Vice President said the reason to enlist BCL Mine under MDC was to ensure proper management of the mine, adding that the BCL Mine like any other mining companies owned by government would report to MDC.

He said in turn, MDC would be responsible for monitoring the operations and procedures of the mine to assist BCL Mine move away from the challenge it faced. 

Mr Masisi reiterated government’s commitment to helping BCL Mine to get up on its feet and become a profitable organisation that would contribute positively to the economy and create more jobs for locals. 

Further, he said from way back, BCL Mine had been facing financial challenges due to the ever depreciating copper and nickel prices that also went down drastically recently in the global market. 

He said that affected BCL Mine, in that, the mine did not make any profit while mining the mineral ore was expensive. He said in order to avoid job losses and keep the mine afloat, the government supported the mine financially every year. He said the government gave BCL Mine P1 billion recently to tackle the challenges the mine was facing.

Giving a vote of thanks, the deputy mayor of Selebi Phikwe, Mr Molefhi Pilane also expressed his condolences to the mine accident victim’s families. He thanked Mr Masisi  for visiting the mining town and mine during these hard times. He encouraged workers to stay united and not despair about what transpired at the mine.

Earlier on, Minister of Infrastructure Science and Technology, Mr Nonofho Molefhi who is also Member of Parliament for Selebi Phikwe East visited the mine after being informed about the tragedy to also convey his condolences to the bereaved families, workers and the BCL Mine. 

The underground incident that took place on May 29 at South East Extension (SEE) and involved 10 employees. Four died and six survived.  Two critical miners had been referred to Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital in Francistown. Ends