Thumps Up All Round For Boseto

BONIFACE KEAKABETSE
Correspondent | Monday November 1, 2010 00:00

 

Speaking at the Kgotla last week, Dithapi Atsowe said approval of the project came through a series of consultative kgotla meetings addressed by the Tawana Land Board (TLB) at Toteng, Sehitwa and this world famous resort town of Maun.

The project consulting engineer who represented Discovery at the kgotla meeting, David Edwards, said construction would soon start, now that the people of the district had endorsed the project. Welcoming the first-ever mine in the district, people said the project should translate into jobs, especially for the youth, and generally improve livelihoods for communities in the vicinity of the mine.

To that end, Discovery has placed advertisements inviting companies for inclusion on its database for suppliers.Edwards said 500 people would be hired for the construction phase while 300 would be employed on the mine when full production begins early in 2012.  'Priority will be given to residents of Toteng, Maun and Sehitwa villages,' he said. 'Each village will be allocated a quota of [the] jobs.'

He explained that DML has invested $175 million- (an equivalent of more than P1 billion) in the project. The old Maun-Ghantsi road will be used to transport goods and employees to and from the mining site.

To avoid the prospect of a ghost town when the resource is depleted, there will be no township at the mine. Instead, the mine will lease houses in Maun and Toteng for staff, Edwards said.

The company plans to relocate its head office from Gaborone to Maun and to build other offices at the mine site and in Toteng.

Responding to a question about pollution and other environmental concerns, especially that the mine is located not far from Lake Ngami, Edwards said no smelting would be done on site.

Atsowe said copies of the Environmental Impact Assessment on the project were available from Tawana Land Board offices and the Department of Environmental Affairs.

Seven commercial ranches were affected by the project, and the land board was studying compensation options of resolving the matter, he added.

The Monitor is informed that Discovery once proposed leasing some of the ranches, but this was met with resistance by farmers who wanted Discovery to buy their ranches.

With a lifespan of 15 years, the Boseto copper project has a total resource of 60.4Mt grading at 1.4 percent copper and 19.5g/t silver. According to Discovery's website, the possibility of underground mining at the site to increase production and the mine's lifespan exists.

Discovery has mineral assets in Africa and joint ventures in Australia. The Boseto copper project is its main asset and is wholly-owned. The company also controls the Dikoloti nickel project in northeastern Botswana.