Weak prices stymie plans for pioneering metals refinery

Last year, government funded a prefeasibility study into the establishment of the refinery, which would use output from BCL, Tati Nickel, African Copper and Khoemacau mines, to produce pure metal that can be processed into final products such as copper cables and pipes.

Botswana Chamber of Mines (BCM) CEO, Charles Siwawa told BusinessWeek that while the prefeasibility study had shown that such a refinery could be viable, no further progress could be made due to the prevailing weak prices of base metals.