18 Sep 2013

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Wildlife, Tourism, Natural Resource and Climate Change, Mr Frank Ramsden has commended BOSETO Mining Company for doing an excellent job in terms of environment issues.

He said in an interview after the committee’s visit to the mine to get first-hand information on the mine’s operations that the mine was doing a good job in terms of adherence to required standards and different statutes and legislation governing mining operations.

Another reason for the committee’s visit was to evaluate the mine’s future development plans and projections in terms of environmental management, pollution control and community interface and ultimately the exit strategies in place.

Mr Ramsden, who is also Maun East MP, explained that the purpose of the visit was to evaluate and look into environmental issues to see how best they were addressed either by government or the company.

BOSETO is a copper and nickel mine situated at Toteng, some 70 km from Maun in the Ngamiland District. The open cast mine was expected to create direct employment for the locals.

He said they visited the mine to ensure it existed harmoniously with the environment and the local people. “We wanted to see if the mine is doing any harm to the environment and to appreciate its co-existence to the entire environment and how the communities are benefiting from the mine”, he added.

Mr Ramsden said since the mine was still operational there was need to know its environmental policies. He also appreciated some relevant departments which he said were keeping an eye on the mine’s operations.

Mr Ramsden described their committee as a government watchdog with a mandate to oversee operations of the economy in the country. He expressed happiness that the visit was an open avenue to create a conducive environment where they could share ideas, discuss challenges and find ways to address them.

He said the mine officials were intending to do underground mining with the aim to reduce impact on the environemt. The chairperson also observed that Botswana had become a copper country hence the need to start copper beneficiation just like diamond mining.

Mr Ramsden said they sold the idea to the mine’s officials who welcomed it. However they indicated copper beneficiation was very expensive.

They suggested however that if other copper mines could come up with more input, they could manage. Mr Ramsden said they would look into the matter and discuss it with the government. He said there are several copper mines in the country and believed the officials could consider that a smelter be put up. Ends