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Makgekgenene cuts his teeth in mining
 by Prof Malema
26-07-2010
Atang Makgekgenene this week became the trail-blazing Motswana in mining business after signing a multi-million dollar deal with BCL Mine that will also ignite hopes aimed at reviving the economic life of Selebi-Phikwe town.
Makgekgenene’s company, Global Initiative, will in the next 12 years be involved in the extraction of residual metal contained in BCL tailings dams and slag dump— which in total is estimated to involve 145 million tonnes that was built over the last 36 years.
“The Selebi Phikwe Mine has an estimated tailing resource of 100 million tones and 45 million tones of slag.
“Contained in the tailings and slag resource is approximately 300 000 tonnes of nickel of which 50 percent can be recovered.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sunday Standard on Friday, he said: “We have invested a fair amount of money, technology and the geological knowhow over the last two years.
“After the signing of the agreement with BCL mine… before the end of the year we should have closed this other chapter,” he said referring to pushing the project to bankable feasibility study.
The biggest challenge in the next three to four months will be to try to put his work together in a bid to raise US $ 400 million (about P 3.2 billion) for the construction of treatment plant able to handle 40, 000 tonnes of combine tailing and slag.
That will involve re-testing of the dumps with the services of an independent party with the view of determining the quality of base metals contained therein—and find out whether they are of any economic value.
That will set the stage for the construction of the plant that is expected to take between 12- to- 24 months.
The capital raising is expected to be aided by the agreement that he has already signed with BCL Mine on excess to tailing resource.
The land mark agreement that represents the biggest Public Private Partnership (PPPs), between a citizen owned company and a quasi government owned mining outfit.
Makgekgenene expressed confidence in the project despite the sensitivity of base metals prices in the international markets.
“If the prices could stay at the current levels then I think it will be a good business. The take-off contracts are not an issue,” he said.
Global Initiatives will have excess to tailings that have been building up since 1974 when the mine started full production and will extract nickel, copper and cobalt through improved technology to be acquired from China.
He said they will use BCL’s smelter to treat their ore and after will either sell to BCL or go to the open market.
The move won praises from both BCL Mine and Global Initiatives with the mine saying that it had partnered with players “to extract value out of its waste products”.
“This is a significant step for BCL in achieving its strategic theme of partnering with other players to extract value out of its waste,” BCL General Manager, Montwedi Mphathi, said.
“This is an important development for the Botswana economy in the sense that it will prolong the economic activity in this area for many years. Nickel will remain a significant export earner for Botswana and will provide jobs in this area through this project,” Makgekgenene said.
Selebi Phikwe and the surrounding areas have embarked on laying out plans that are aimed at increasing economic viability ahead of the end of the life-span of the mine.
Already SPEDU has been set up to spearhead the initiatives.
“Over the last few years, our group has acquired mining interests in Burundi, Namibia and Rwanda,” Makgekgenene added.
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