Khoemacau to spend P2bn on new copper mine
Brian Benza | Wednesday July 8, 2015 18:04
The construction of the mine is set to start in 2016 with the first copper shipment to the markets expected in 2018.
Addressing the media in Gaborone yesterday, Cupric Africa Chief Executive Officer, Sam Rasmussen said the mine will produce 50,000 tonnes of copper and 1.8 million ounces of silver per annum.
Backed by Barclay’s Natural Resources, Cupric Africa is the parent company to Khoemacau.
“We expect the capital expenditure to be around $200 million. The cost would have been much higher had it not been for the processing plant we have acquired in taking over Discovery Metals’ Boseto Mine,” he said.
Khoemacau recently concluded a deal through an offer of compromise to buy the mothballed Boseto Mine, which is only 30 kilometres away from the Somelo site.
“The acquisition of Boseto Mine and its exploration licences builds capacity for us to fully consolidate exploitation of the Kalahari copper belt. We also expect to reopen the mothballed Boseto Mine by 2018 as an underground mine,” he said.
Khoemacau, which bought Boseto out of liquidation for about $35 million, has so far taken on board 30 workers who were formerly employed by Discovery Metals.
“We have an undertaking to employ some of the redundant workers when Boseto reopens in 2018, but it would be unrealistic to have expectations of reemploying all the workers,” said Head of Human Resources and Communications at Cupric Africa, Clare Calver.
Both the new mine at Somelo and Boseto are expected to employ 800 workers at full production.
The company is also in negotiations with government over the connection of the northwestern region to the national grid.
The region, which hosts the copper rich Kalahari Copperbelt, is currently not connected to the power grid and government is installing transmission lines to the area.
Energy focused company, Shumba Coal, announced plans last week to develop a solar power station to produce up to 200MW in the Northwestern part of the country, where copper mines are sprouting up.
The Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) Listed coal junior has released an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) public notice for the Photo Voltaic project, which will include an initial 100MW power plant, with a plan to increase to 200MW.
The power station is expected to supply upcoming copper mines in the Kalahari copper belt, which are currently not connected to the national grid.
During operation DML Mine, which laid off 800 workers when it closed in March, reportedly spent $3million (P30 million) monthly to fuel the diesel generators at Boseto to power the mine.
Khoemacau also owns another copper rich asset in Botswana, the Banana Zone in Gantsi.
According to Rasmussen, the company will concentrate, for now, on the two northwest projects and will look to exploit the Banana Zone in 10 to 15 years’ time.