● Contractor Moolmans downs tools at Tati Nickel
● Mine owes Moolmans over P100 million
● BCL blamed for Tati Nickel woes
● 400 jobs hang in the balance
It is tools down at Tati Nickel Mine after the seemingly financially depressed mining company failed to pay its main contracted company, Moolman Mining, an accumulated debt of over P100 million, it has emerged. The cash-strapped company, recently acquired by government through BCL, is said to be failing to meet its financial obligations to contractors. Its inability to pay Moolman Mining Botswana is said to have led to the sub-contractor downing tools. Those close to the two parties have told The Business Weekly & Review that Moolman downed tools on December 27 last year due to unpaid fees in excess of P180 million by the world class nickel producer.
Moolman Mining Botswana had a five-year mining contract with Tati Nickel Mining Company, a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel Africa (Pty) Ltd. The contract included drilling, blasting, loading, hauling, dumping and associated activities of 36 million tonnes of waste and ore per annum at Phoenix Mine in Francistown. An employee who requested anonymity told this publication that downing tools by Moolman is said to have left the more than 400 employees in limbo. “We were told to report to work on Wednesday (this week) to know the way forward,” a source said. The remaining employees’ future hangs in the balance after surviving retrenchment that saw 100 of their colleagues losing their jobs.
Since last year, BCL has been having severe financial difficulties so much that it has been failing to even pay staff salaries.
This publication failed to draw comment from BCL General Manager Dan Mahupela, who insisted that he could only give a face to face interview on the matter. In a phone conversation with this publication, Mahupela refused to field the questions but rather asked the reporters to travel to Selibe Phikwe to interview him. However, Tati Nickel Public Relations Manager Tebogo Rapitsinyane is quoted in one of the local newspapers denying that the company is not bankrupt or on the brink of collapse.
Moolman Mining could not comment on the matter, and its headquarters in South Africa cited that they were having problems with their phones in Botswana. Officials at Moolman headquarters in South Africa would, however, not comment on the issue saying that it was best that the Botswana subsidiary answer for itself, which was impossible since the company’s communication lines are experiencing technical problems. While Mahupela declined to comment on this issue, sources point to the fact that even though Tati Nickel had its fair share of market challenges, serious problems emerged after BCL acquired Norilsk Nickel Africa from the Russians, as a strategy to diversify BCL. With Tati Nickel now enveloped in the BCL fold, sources say that to a certain point BCL has consolidated accounts for all its subsidiaries.
Since last year, BCL has been having severe financial difficulties so much that it has been failing to even pay staff salaries. Just last year, BCL board of directors, led by Chairman Dr Akolang Tombale, approached government looking for a P1.5 billion funding, a request which was turned down. BCL’s plan was to also liquidate Tati Nickel from the facility.
When asked what BCL’s plan was in regards to securing funds to save its operations, Tombale said he was the wrong person to answer that question which should be directed to Mahupela as the Managing Director.