Discovery Metals, the emerging copper and silver mining tiger, is upbeat that its Boseto project is geared to be commissioned by early 2012 adding to other efforts aimed at making Botswana one of the king-pins of mining activities.
The company’s Financial Manager, Mokwena Morulane, told the annual Botswana Resource Conference last week that everything is on target, the resources are outstanding┬áand it has enough cash to push the project forward.
“The mine construction is┬áwell advanced and within target,”┬áhe said, adding that┬á“Boseto is very, very bankable”.
Boseto project is in the North-Western part of the┬ácountryÔÇöabout 80 kilometers outside Maun.
The area was previously explored by other mining giants, such as Anglo-Vaal and US Steel International in the 1960s and 1970s that were looking for mining operations in excess of 200 million tones of medium to low grades.
“We are on track to commission the plant by early 2012 and increase the life-span from 15 years to 25 years,” Morulane said.
He added: “We have US$ 10 million set aside for that development.”
Discovery is the darling of both the stock markets and financial institutions lately, and two weeks ago it managed to raise US$ 180 million.
Discovery said it was upbeat about the prospects of an open pit mine in the area which will later extend into an underground mine as the finds area greater than originally thought. It also stated that the current infrastructural development is of a higher standard and area is easily accessible to harbours in neighbouring countries.
The tri-listed┬ácompany┬ásaid the silver deposits were of a higher grade,┬á yielding US$ 17 per ounce while the┬á copper grade┬á yields above US$ 3 per pound. It is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), London’ AIM and Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE).
“The silver grade should enable us to pay our debt within two years,” he told the conference organised by Capital Securities.
The developments by  Discovery Metals come at a time when  China and India are increasingly  getting hungry for  base metals  to try to power their economic developments as they accelerate  to bypass the European nations  with economic muscle.