01 Jun 2022

The long awaited Selebi Phikwe based Air Separation plant is taking off at a site adjacent to Pula Steel.

Trading under the name Oxygen Gas (Pty) Ltd, the plant is envisaged to produce oxygen, nitrogen and nitrous oxide gasses for medical and industrial use.

Facilitated by SPEDU, the wholly citizen owned company is expected to produce 10 615 tonnes of oxygen, 3 504 tonnes of Nitrogen and 876 tonnes of Nitrous oxide per annum.

In an interview with, SPEDU chief executive officer, Mr Uezesa Jazenga said the economy of Selebi Phikwe was anchored around the BCL mine, now closed and under liquidation.

He said even though the BCL mine’s resuscitation was underway, government came up with other initiatives to revive the economy of the town through introduction of other economic activities which would help diversify the economy of SPEDU region.

Among such projects facilitated by SPEDU, he said was Oxygen Gas which was expected to create 80 jobs during construction as well as 200 direct jobs and 50 indirect jobs during operation.

He said the project was financed by three financiers being the shareholders, Botswana Development Corporation and CEDA, with BDC financing the first phase of the project.

The company recently handed over the construction site to the contractor Bohua, to clear and kick-start the project.

“We expect our product to be out early February 2023,” said the company project manager, Mr Paul Bamte.

He said the plant would enable the country to have its own oxygen supply instead of relying solely from other countries adding that COVID-19 claimed many lives due to shortage of oxygen.

Mr Bamte explained that another partner in the project was the Chamber of Mines which would help the company to move beyond government market to access market in the mines.

Some of the benefits brought by the project include domestic supply of industrial and medical gases.

The company management recently paid a courtesy call to Selebi Phikwe mayor, Mr Lucas Modimana to update him on the progress made so far and introduce the project team. Ends