21 Dec 2020

A-Cap Resources Botswana is the only company issued a mining licence to mine uranium near Serule village.

The Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security Mr Lefoko Moagi said the company was incorporated in Botswana and it is wholly owned by A-Cap Resources and an Australian registered company.

He said A-Cap was granted a mining licence number 2016/6L on September 5, 2016, which was valid for 25 years. He said a feasibility study of the mining project was premised on acid leaching technology for extraction of uranium from ore.

He further noted that the targeted source of acid was BCL’s Smelter, for which plans were under way for eventual installation of scrubbing of sulphur dioxide gas to produce sulphuric acid.

“A-Cap had initially planned to start construction of the mine in 2017 and while the company was in the process of raising funds, BCL was placed under liquidation in October 2016,” he said.

Mr Moagi said lack of close-by source of acid and the deteriorating market prices for uranium rendered the project not viable, coupled with  the prohibitive costs of transporting acid from sources in distant places.

He said the company requested to amend their programme of work to allow it to consider other treatment technologies. Mr Moagi further said the exercise of exploring other options had not yielded a viable solution for the project, and the company continued to consider different options to refine the feasibility study for the project.

He was answering Serowe North MP, Mr Baratiwa Mathoothe, who had wanted to know how many companies had been given licences to mine Uranium in Serule and names of the companies issued with such licenses.

He had also asked when they would commence mining. ends