"Botswana shut down money-losing copper and nickel producer BCL Ltd. and began steps to liquidate the state-owned company, Mineral Resources Minister Sadique Kebonang said Saturday.
The governing cabinet decided the southern African nation couldn’t afford the 8 billion pula ($754 million) needed to keep BCL running, said Kebonang, who is also minster of green technology and energy security. A provisional liquidator is to be appointed by Monday, and none of BCL’s more than 5,000 employees have lost their jobs yet, he said in a phone interview.
“For the past 20 years, BCL Mine has not been doing well except for a short period when commodity prices were high,” Kebonang said, referring to the company’s operating unit. “To keep it going, the cost is 8 billion pula, and if you sink that into BCL, you have to shut down the entire economy, meaning no provision of free Anti-retroviral drugs or free education.”"
etc etc.
Time to find a new JV partner PV......
BML Price at posting:
0.3¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held