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COMMENT
June 2016
MODERN MINING
3
H
aving just returned from the Bo-
tswana Resource Sector Con-
ference (BRSC) in Gaborone, I
thought I would share with read-
ers some of my impressions of the
event, which I’ve been attending for the past
decade and which is a firm favourite of mine.
First off, let me say that this was the quietest
BRSC I’ve yet attended. In saying this, I’m not
so much referring to the delegate count – at 288
it was on the low side but perfectly respectable
given current market conditions – but rather the
absence, with a couple of notable exceptions, of
any really exciting presentations on new devel-
opments within the Botswana mining industry.
What was also a little disappointing was the
lack of support for the conference from some of
the biggest players within Botswana’s mining
sector. Debswana, for example, didn’t present
at the event and nor did BCL, which owns the
nickel/copper mine at Selebi-Phikwe and the
Tati nickel operation near Francistown.
I appreciate, of course, that Debswana is
much smaller than it used to be – it has cut
production quite dramatically to adjust to weak
global demand for diamonds – and that BCL is
struggling to survive. Nevertheless, these two
companies are the twin pillars of Botswana’s
mining industry and it would have been valu-
able to have heard from them on their current
activities and future plans.
Debswana, incidentally, was not the only
diamond mining company to be absent from
the list of presenters. Neither Gem Diamonds,
which owns the Ghaghoo underground dia-
mond mine in the Central Kalahari, nor
Kimberley Diamonds, which has just recom-
missioned the Lerala diamond mine, gave
presentations. I can perhaps understand
Gem’s decision not to participate given that
it has downsized operations at Ghaghoo but I
would have thought that Kimberley – which
presumably has a good story to tell – would
have liked to have shared its experiences with
delegates.
In fact, it was left to Paul Day, the Gaborone-
based COO of Lucara, to carry the flag for
Botswana’s diamond mining industry. His pre-
sentation covered the Karowe diamond mine.
There was nothing particularly new in it but
Paul is an accomplished speaker and his deliv-
ery went down very well with his audience.
Particularly entertaining was his account of
how – in November last year – he received a
phone call from Karowe’s GM, Gerry Ndlovu,
giving the incredible news that the mine had
recovered an 1 100-carat stone – the second
largest in history after the famous Cullinan
diamond.
Paul immediately flew up to the mine to
see for himself this extraordinary stone. As
he recounted, this was the start of an amazing
week for both himself and Lucara as, within
another day or so, two more exceptional stones
– one of 813 carats and the other of 374 carats
– were recovered by the mine’s newly installed
XRT diamond recovery units.
As far as I can recall, there was not a single
presentation on diamond exploration but one
explorer, Pangolin Diamonds, did at least have
a stand in the exhibition area. Pangolin, whose
Chairman is Dr Leon Daniels, has a number
of projects in Botswana including Malatswae,
where 13 diamonds have been recovered at
surface, and Motloutse where a kimberlite drill
target, MG08, has just been identified. I didn’t
get a chance to talk to Leon at length about
Pangolin’s activities but I have noticed that the
company’s shares have been moving up nicely
in recent months – which perhaps suggests that
we should be pursuing an article on these two
projects.
Moving on to copper, there were two excel-
lent presentations given at the conference, one
by Johannes Tsimako of Khoemacau Copper
Mining and the other by Julian Hanna of
Australia’s MOD Resources. Both these compa-
nies are active in the Kalahari Copperbelt and I
will be covering their projects in more detail in
our July issue. Suffice it to say here, however,
that Khoemacau is one of the few companies
actually planning to build a new mine in
Botswana. As Johannes explained, it intends
starting construction of an initial 3,65 Mt/a
starter project in the first quarter of next year.
The use of the term ‘starter’ suggests a small
project but in fact the capex is a very substan-
tial US$341 million.
Finally, what of coal? Sadly, there was
not much new to report. Companies such as
Shumba, Jindal and African Energy are doing
their best to bring their substantial coal reserves
to account but at this stage there is little pros-
pect of Botswana becoming an exporter of coal,
given current market conditions, as well as
the country’s transport constraints. It appears
that the only way to monetise Botswana’s coal
resources will be to build power stations and
export power to the Southern African region.
I’ve no doubt that this will happen in time but
progress is painfully slow and my guess is that
very little will have transpired by the time the
next conference is held in a year’s time.
Arthur Tassell
Quiet conference
in Gaborone
It appears that
the only way
to monetise
Botswana’s coal
resources will be
to build power
stations and
export power
to the Southern
African region.