21 Sep 2022

There are a lot of business opportunities at Khoemacau Copper Mining for Batswana to tap into.

Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry Ms Beauty Manake made the observation during an appreciation tour of the mine in Toteng on Tuesday September 20. 

She said it was commendable to see Batswana trucking and logistics companies transporting copper from the mine to Walvis Bay and Durban ports.

She also lauded the logistics model used where upon off-loading the copper at the ports, the haulage trucks then load diesel to transport to the mine.

The assistant minister said the mine had an agreement with Tokafala enterprise,a youth development programme, to outsource personal protective equipment to Botswana companies listed with Tokafala.

Ms Manake said the mine had also financed poultry businesses at Sehithwa and Komana, to procure eggs from them, as part of its community development.

She highlighted that the mine went above and beyond as it was in the process of establishing a partnership with a farmer to supply them with chicken meat.

She stated that her ministry was working closely with LEA to build sustainable supplier development models to help Ngamiland SMMEs to ensure there was consistency in supply because there was a high demand at the mine.

Ms Manake urged the mine to optimise on citizen procurement as much as they could, adding that there were many manufacturing industries in Botswana that the mine needed to explore, like leatherworks.

Khoemacau Mine General Manager, Mr Kevin Moxham stated that the mine had become a major copper producer in the country and region and would be ramping up to full production next year.

He said at the beginning of production, the mine engaged South African trucking and logistics companies due to shortage of such in Botswana, but with time, more citizen owned companies came on board.

He highlighted that due to economies of scale, the mine did not have a copper smelter, as it required more power and large volumes of copper, and hence they produce concentrate, which they sold to China and Japan.

Mr Moxham informed the minister that they were experiencing a challenge of high handling fees at Walvis Bay and had requested the Minister of Transport to engage with his Namibian counterpart on the matter. Ends