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An article from the Patriot, dated 7th August,which is, at face value, quite interesting, but which is less so -I think - as it relies to some degree on statements attributed to the ubiquitous Minister for Mines etc., Sadique Kebonang, whom we will recall as pushing the EIH wheel barrow hard to little effect, and whose statements I would now take with plenty salt....though to be fair to the Minister the idea of Norilsk buying the smelter does not come from him directly, but from a "highly placed source at Norilsk Nickel", and his comments are mainly about Bots Government efforts to reach an amicable solution on the Nkomati/Tati mine purchase dispute. You will also remember KPMG liquidator N D-W did say recently he had offered the BCL asset parcel to Norilsk (and others) but all cited the Nkomati dispute as a reason not to become involved at that time.
Thus this article advances an idea Norilsk Nickel are apparently swinging about their anchor chain by now becoming interested in acquiring the BCL smelter (which actually would make sense, if they want now to stay in Africa after all).
http://www.thepatriot.co.bw/news/item/4504-norilsk-nickel-joins-race-for-bcl-smelter .html
Mention is made that NN "which in 2014 decided to disinvest from Africa is seriously considering buying some of the BCL group of companies. BCL Group has three companies being Tati Nickel Mine,
BCL Investments (Pula Steel, minerals exploration company, BCL Smelter) and BCL Mine. Though they have not made the offer to government as they are still in negotiations over the lawsuit, the Russian mining company is said to beconsidering taking back their mines and make (sic) proposal about other BCL assets. Recently when addressing Parliament, the Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security Sadique Kebonang said government has initiated action through Mining Development Company Botswana (MDCB) to resolve the Nkomati share purchase agreement with Norilski Nickel issue amicably. “Due diligence and valuation exercises are being carried out to establish the value of the Nkomati assets as a basis for negotiating a commercially acceptable solution to the parties involved,” he said. He said the due diligence and valuation exercises are expected to be concluded by the 15th of August this year after which negotiations with Norilsk Nickel will start. On why Tati Nickel and BC Investments were not put under final liquidation like BCL Limited, Kebonang said they have received firm offers from different interested groups who want to be able to transact and take them out of the provisional liquidation. The Russians are said to be interested in the smelter which is the biggest in the region with a capacity to treat up to 850 000mt of nickel/copper concentrates per annum. When the negotiations with government begin, the Russian Mining giants are expected to put a proposal to MDCB to buy some of the BCL group assets. It is not clear if Norislk Nickel will join forces with African Rainbow Minerals who used to be their partners at the Nkomati Mine in South Africa to buy the BCL Smelter. ARM, which is owned by South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, is said to have also shown interest in the BCL Smelter. Before the closure of the mine, the BCL smelter used to treat nickel/copper concentrates across the region including from Nkomati but was still operating below its capacity."
We will follow this with interest and see where it leads. The interesting part will be to see if NN buy anything at all but from BML perspective whether they buy the Investments sub covering the exploration assets, o0ne being Maibele North.....very much up in the air, as usual.
Regards to all.
(20min delay)