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MODERN MINING
July 2016
feature
COUNTRY FOCUS
BOTSWANA
K
hoemacau is the Botswana sub-
sidiary of US-based Cupric Can-
yon Capital, a company managed
by a group of experienced copper
mining industry veterans who
are backed by Global Natural Resource Invest-
ments (formerly the Barclays Natural Resource
Investments private equity business). The Cu-
One of the few bright spots in the current Southern
African mining scene are the plans of Khoemacau
Copper Mining (Khoemacau) to build a substantial
underground copper mine in the Kalahari Copperbelt
of Botswana. An update on the project was given at the
recent Botswana Resource Sector Conference (BRSC)
by Johannes Tsimako, Khoemacau’s Country Manager,
who told the delegates that the ‘Starter Project’ –
with a capacity of 50 000 t/a of copper – would enter
construction next year with commissioning being
achieved in the first half of 2019. He noted that the
project represented a “district scale opportunity” which
was scalable up to 150 000 t/a of copper.
Khoemacau
outlines its vision
for the Kalahari Copperbelt
pric Africa team is headed by Sam Rasmus-
sen, based in Johannesburg, who has many
years of copper mining experience including
in the DRC (where he managed the Tenke Fun-
gurume mine in Katanga) and Chile. As CEO
of Cupric Africa, he has overall responsibil-
ity for the Khoemacau Project, which Cupric
acquired when it purchased Canadian junior
Hana Mining in 2013.
Cupric Africa and Khoemacau had a large
contingent – 16 people – at the BRSC, includ-
ing Rasmussen and Project Director Rob Dey,
signifying its commitment to the project,
which is expected to involve an initial capex
of US$341 million. It will add diversification
to Botswana’s mining industry and will rank as
the country’s first dedicated underground cop-
per mine (if one ignores the BCL operation in
Selebi-Phikwe, which does produce some cop-
per but is primarily seen as a nickel producer).
Of course, Botswana did have two other cop-
per mining operations until recently, namely
the Mowana open-pit mine of African Copper
near Francistown and the Boseto open-pit
mine of Discovery Copper Botswana (DCB) in
the Kalahari Copperbelt, but both operations