Botswana: Tati Nickel to Double Production
By the end of the year Tati Nickel will be working round the clock to increase its production in order to supply copper and nickel to BCL in Selebi-Phikwe and the newly approved Activox refinery.
BCL Chief Executive Officer Montwedi Mphathi said that Tati Nickel would increase its production and have enough to supply them and also supply the Activox refinery, emphasising that they have a legal binding contract with them and they have been briefed about Activox. On how the refinery may affect BCL, Mphathi said that the Activox would not have any negative effect on the supplies they receive from Tati Nickel.
To facilitate this increase in production a new 80 kilometres power infrastructure will be built with a 220kV transmission line, which will extend the Botswana Power Corporation grid at Phokoje near Selebi-Phikwe to the Tati Mine site.
The water requirements for the plant will be supplied from the Shashe dam whereby an off take arrangement for 17.4 million litres would be needed daily. The Activox base metal refinery is designed to accommodate between 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes of payable nickel per annum and 12,000 to 16,000 of copper per annum at a capital cost of P264 million.
The Activox refinery at Tati Nickel has brought much excitement to the mining industry. Activox refinery process is a proprietary hydrometallurgical process by LionOre that treats a wide variety of metal sulfide concentrates into end products.
LionOre’s objective is to become a vertically integrated nickel producer through the commercialisation of Activox and the associated competitive advantage that will deliver a change in the company’s nickel production profile with competitive costs and competitive capital entry point.
Copyright © 2006 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved.
