Mineral Beneficiation Policy needed - MP Keorapetse
Argues beneficiation would create jobs and diversify economy
Government has been condemned for failing to come up with a Minerals Policy with a strong component of beneficiation.
Member of Parliament for Selibe Phikwe West, Dithapelo Keorapetse said beneficiation will diversify the economy and create jobs. He said since the discovery of minerals in recoverable quantities, beneficiation was never a priority for the government. He stated that it was never considered until recently in a somewhat halfhearted manner.
The legislator said for Nickle and copper that were mined in Selebi Phikwe and Francistown area before liquidation of BCL Investment and Tati Nickel, the country was exporting blister copper after conversion. Other stages like anode casting, electro- refining and manufacturing were done elsewhere, he said, adding that many Batswana would have been employed in Nickel and Copper plants in Phikwe and Francistown where anode casting, electro- refining and manufacturing would be done. He said the government saw nothing wrong with exporting jobs by allowing these processes to be carried out elsewhere. “The requirements for acquiring a prospecting license are stringent and thus most locals often don’t meet the criteria. For example, Batswana are required to produce a balance sheet in the region of millions just to get a license for exploration. In our view, an entity has to show technical ability to be granted a license which will then be used to look for investors. This situation results in licenses being held by aliens because of these stringent measures. Batswana do not have money to start the process of owning a mine. Government should facilitate acquisition of loans in local, regional and international financial institutions and or provide guarantee to those loans. CEDA, NDB, BSB should also help finance exploration and mining related activities,” Keorapetse said, when debating the budget for Ministry of Minerals Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security.
He said there is a trend in terms of how minerals and mining rights are awarded, where relatively small foreign entities in terms of experience and capital are awarded rights and then go to speculate in foreign markets to raise capital for exploration activities, and in some cases sell on the rights to bigger and more established corporations after exploration; thereby cashing on local resources without having done much. He further said, for example, NPR at BCL and Reconn are relatively small companies, but are leveraging on the rights granted to them to speculate and raise money in foreign markets. He indicated that MDCB should assist Batswana to do this less complex process instead of leaving it to foreign entities. He added that a certain percentage should be reserved for government in all mining houses to safeguard the interests of both government and employees. Currently, a company comes and mines, maximises profits and leaves the country. He said the ministry that issues mining licenses should be capacitated, as they lack capacity. “For example, Boseto mine and Lerala mine pits were poorly designed and the department of mines, due to lack of capacity could not pick it up. This was done deliberately to maximise profits by mining the high grade portion of the mineralised zones. In our view, before a license is issued to start mining, the designs should be heavily subjected to technical scrutiny to check for fatal flaws. Boseto and Lerala situations would have been avoided.”