30 May 2021

Khoemacau Copper Mine will start producing copper concentrate in two weeks’ time, Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy, Mr Lefoko Moagi has said.

In an interview after he toured the mine on Thursday,  Mr Moagi said he was impressed by the progress although the mine was about two months behind schedule in producing copper concentrate.

He stated thate Khoemacau Copper Mine was behind schedule due to challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The minister, however, said the mine commissioned the first ore on May 27.

“I have witnessed the trucks offloading first ore into the crushers, which shows that the production of copper will start as planned,” he said.

Mr Moagi appreciated that Khoemacau Copper Mine had developed internal roads in the mine to ease transportation of ore from Zone 5 to the plant.

He also noted that Khoemacau Copper Mine Company had managed to revamp the copper plant and improve its capacity.

He commended the company, which he said hired over 2 000 employees with majority being Batswana and had so far trained some to operate machines in the mine. The government, he said, would keep supporting the mining industry by providing necessary infrastructure such as provision of power and roads connecting to mines.

Khoemacau Copper Mine chief executive officer, Mr Johan Ferreira, said since 2012, the company was engaged in environmental processes worth over P10 billion as foreign direct investment.

He said from 2019, the company started mining and excavating. 

The first ore, he said, was produced in 2020 and the mine had now moved to introduce the first ore into the processing plant to produce copper concentrate.

He said once in full operation, the company would be able to produce over 60 metric tonnes of copper and two million ounces of silver.

Mr Ferreira said the company had a close relationship with communities in the mine’s which would benefit since the mine had about 25 years life span.

One businessman, Mr Allen Sokwe of Tsau, said he had been supplying Khoemacau Copper Mine with beef since 2019.

Mr Sokwe, however, said the mine should improve on assisting small businesses such as his since they were given tough competition by big companies. ENDS