Tati Nickel battles for longer lifespan

Established in the 1980s, Tati Nickel is running on empty, with one mine, Selkirk, mothballed 10 years ago due to depletion of resources. The other, Phoenix, has sustained TNMC over the years, but increasingly lower resources and grades mean the entire operation could wind up by 2015. In response to the declining resources, TNMC launched an aggressive multi-million Pula exploration programme in 2010 that is focussed on identifying new resources within mining and prospecting licence areas under its control.

Giving an update on the exploration, Norilsk Nickel’s Director of Overseas Operations, Roman Panov, said activities in the first quarter of 2012 would focus on airborne geophysical surveys and surface geochemical prospecting. Norilsk Nickel, the world’s biggest nickel producer, owns 85 percent of TNMC, with the balance owned by the Government of Botswana.According to Panov, exploration has already been successful.