Pula Steel steams back into production
Mbongeni Mguni | Monday January 19, 2026 06:00
Pula Steel has emerged from an extensive legal wrangle after the Court of Appeal approved the P18.3 million sale of the pioneering steel plant to Sherashiya Pty Ltd last March. Prior to that, operations at the Selebi Phikwe-based plant had been suspended since 2017.
Sherashiya’s local managing director, Gopal Hebbar, told BusinessWeek that operations were gathering speed at the plant, with plans for expansion of output and employee numbers, as well as product lines.
“Sherashiya Steel plant restarted full and 24-hour operation in July 2025, and progress is steady with plant, staff and other input components settling into their stride considering the long stint in stagnation,” he said in response to emailed enquiries. “The plant is currently running at 30% capacity, using only the smaller of its two furnaces, which produces an output of 90 tonnes per day. “As supply chain processes for input material improve, we aim to train to full capacity, and the output is at 270 tonnes per day.”
The Selebi Phikwe operation presently employs 100 workers, but Hebbar said he expects the number to grow to 300 direct jobs this year.
Prior to its closure, Pula Steel was one of the town’s major private sector employers alongside BCL Mine. However, after a bright start, Pula Steel closed just two years after it was built at a cost of P130 million, strained by financial and technical challenges.
The plant’s main difficulty was the shortage of its raw material, scrap metal. Before BCL Mine’s liquidation, Pula Steel was fed with scrap metal from BCL and was even part of the mine’s life extension plans, known as Polaris II.
Hebbar told BusinessWeek that the feedstock for the current operations was steady.
“We have developed a diverse sourcing system, with input material including scrap metal and additional inputs currently only available in Zimbabwe and South Africa,” he said. “Sherashiya also acquired BCL assets in an auction through which we secured our additional scrap requirements. “This is, however, a temporary measure as scrap is a finite source of material.”
While at present, Pula Steel is producing steel billets, Sherashiya is in the process of installing a rolling mill to manufacture finished products for the domestic market.
Hebbar said initial output after the rolling mill’s installation would include steel reinforcing bars, angles and lip channels. He noted that this transformation would lay the foundation for establishing an iron and steel manufacturing hub in Botswana.
Sherashiya intends to further bolster the supply chain around its feedstock.
“The next phase of our business is to set up a sponge iron plant in Botswana to cater for our raw material requirement, and we are in the process of getting the necessary iron ore mining licensing from the government to extend the life of the plant. “This will create sufficient material requirements for the plant as well as create opportunities for export of sponge iron in significant quantities,” he said.
Sponge iron is a widely used alternative to scrap metal, produced by removing oxygen from iron ore.
Hebbar hailed Pula Steel’s progress since reopening, noting that the plant’s activities were in line with the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme, which envisions a high-income, digitally enabled, export-oriented and economically diverse Botswana.