Quarry sites aspirants lose licenses
Six local companies that were awarded prospecting licenses for quarry sites more than six years ago failed to develop and manufacture sand.This has resulted in the calling of new tenders scheduled for the end of this year. Manufacturing sand is the worldwide practice of saving the environment as it helps in curbing illegal sand mining. Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security Lefhoko Moagi told this publication this week on the sidelines of parliament that this type of business is reserved for Batswana.However, he said in most cases one applies for a prospecting license for quarry to look for stones and then later applies for mining licenses to mine the stones and crush them. The prospecting licenses last for three years and before lapsing, the applicant is given two sets of renewals of two years per term if he is in business, making it a total of seven consecutive years. Moagi said the ministry has discovered that in most cases, people target an upcoming project then apply for quarry licenses with the aim to supply such a project with crushed sand.He said some of these applicants were targeting the proposed dual carriageway from Boatle to Lobatse but were unable to develop the respective sites allocated to them as the project is yet to start.Moagi said currently there is overcrowding in one area where all companies in Botswana operate and sell quarry sand. He impressed that currently one company that was given a prospecting license has started to develop the area in preparation to supply during the construction of the earmarked Moshupa and Thamaga hospitals.Presenting his Ministry’s proposals for Mid-Term Review of the National Development Plan 11 (NDP 11) Lefhoko told parliament that his ministry faced challenges of illegal mining of river sand which is leading to degradation of rivers. He said the ministry embarked on manufactured sand as an alternative to river sand harvesting and awarded prospecting licenses for quarry sites in 2017. “My Ministry is planning to re-tender the prospecting licenses by the end of 2020. This is a result of failure to develop the sites by the six (6) companies that were initially awarded the tender”. Meanwhile, Moagi said Morupule B power station continues to experience perennial plant reliability challenges due to equipment and construction defects. Currently two units are in operation generating 230MW.
One unit is out of service for remedial maintenance and the completion date for the remediation is significantly delayed by unavailability of contractor’s personnel who could not travel from China due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.