BMWU abandons BCL viability study plans
Chakalisa Dube | Friday January 20, 2017 14:29
The mines include BCL Investment in Selebi-Phikwe and Tati Nickel mine in Francistown. Last year BMWU officials said they would do an independent assessment on the viability of the mines under the BCL Group.
This came after government’s decision to provisionally liquidate BCL Mine in Selebi-Phikwe and Tati Nickel mine last October because they were deemed non-viable entities.
The move to close the mine left over 5,000 people jobless at the two mines under the BCL Group. The decision attracted widespread criticism from economists, trade unions, politicians and social commentators.
“After seeking advise from various consultants we have learnt that the cost of conducting the study is very huge. For this reason we have decided to abandon the plans to conduct our own independent study,” BMWU president, Jack Tlhagale said this week.
During the provisional liquidation process, the government said it had pumped a lot of money into BCL Group but its mines were not profitable.
In addition the government maintained that mines are too deep, which made mining expensive.
On the contrary, the Union has always maintained that BCL does not require constant cash injections.
BMWU also said despite the deepness of the mines, mining could be done at a reasonable cost provided there is right expertise. The Union was of the view that BCL can be profitable based on the projected economic conditions.
The Union leader further highlighted that they were advised that potential investors who are interested in buying the mine will make a thorough assessment, which will probably be available to the Union.
In another revelation, Tlhagale told BusinessWeek that the Union will study the contents of liquidator, Nigel Dixon-Warren’s recent recommendation on BCL and take a position.
On Tuesday, Dixon-Warren said the BCL mines must be placed under final liquidation. The liquidator ruled out any possibility of the two mines re-opening soon.
Warren-Dixon added that the future of BCL Mine lies with investors buying BCL assets as a whole or in part and creditors agreeing to the sales terms.
So far according to Dixon-Warren, the BCL Group has attracted interest from three companies though no formal bids have been submitted.