No decision on Activox, says Tati Mine

RYDER GABATHUSE
Staff Writer | Friday November 14, 2008 00:00

 

Tati Nickel Mine manager for Organisational capability, Peter Meswele, yesterday confirmed that 'no decision has been made on possibly resuscitating the Activox Refinery project'.

'What we said last June was that this is an investment suspension. If a decision is made for the continuation of the P5 billion project, communication will be made,' he said.

This was the official statement when the project was first halted:

'The postponement of the Tati Activox is solely due to the project's economics. The aim of the project at Tati Nickel was to improve recoveries of nickel from concentrates, which are currently being treated through the smelter at BCL mine.'

Meswele says that the Activox itself was a success until the cost of putting up the technology proved prohibitive.

'The cost just went too high, forcing a decision to be taken to halt the project. At this point in time, we don't have any idea when the project will be resuscitated.

When it was halted, about five construction companies were on site and the closure of the project unfortunately resulted in job losses,' he recalls.

He empahasises that the Activox technology is patented to the Norilsk Nickel Group. 'What this means is that we can have a number of refineries anywhere the group has a presence. And yes, depending on the economics in Botswana, they will bring it back.'

Meswele says suspension did not mean the group intended relocating the technology to its headquarters in Russia.

He says the slump in global metal prices are making life difficult for mining operations and that it affects 'all the mining operations around the globe, including ours.'

The Tati Nickel Group extracts mainly copper and nickel, and cobalt on a small scale.

Meanwhile, the company is expected to make an announcement on Monday relating to Selkirk Mine following a feasibility study undertaken recently to determine the way forward. The mine, which started off as an underground operation, is likely to go opencast.

Meanwhile, Meswele says after the Botswana Mine Workers' Union (BMWU) took them to court on behalf of those who lost their jobs at the Activox site, 'both parties agreed to arbitration recently'.

But the union's chairman, Rex Tambula, says he is in the dark regarding new developments in the Activox case except that the employer 'is blowing hot and cold as today a promise is made to settle the matter out of court, only to change the next day.'

Tambula, who has replaced the late Golekanye Mogende, says of the Activox project: 'It seems Tati Nickel has abandoned the project forever as nothing is being mentioned of it.'