Africa-Press – Botswana. Positive socio-economic impacts from licensed mining operations outweigh the negative impacts as they uplift the livelihoods of communities hosting them, says Minister of Minerals and Energy, Ms Bogolo Kenewendo.
Responding to a question from Maun East legislator, Mr Goretetse Kekgonegile on Tuesday, Ms Kenewendo said while communities hosting the mines may be adversely affected by impacts resulting from the presence of mines in their vicinity, the communities benefitted from jobs offered by the projects and developments that usually came along with the projects such as schools, hospitals, roads and electricity among others.
The minister said mining companies made contributions among others to the development of schools, health facilities, sporting activities and to vulnerable groups through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
In line with current laws, she said holders of mineral concessions were expected to adequately compensate those who moved to pave way for mining projects.
“There are processes provided for in the law regarding where a party that is to make way for a mining project is not satisfied with the compensation offered,” she said.
Ms Kenewendo said the overall review of the Mining and Minerals Act was ongoing to maximise value and impact of the sectors for the country and communities.
As at the end of Novemebr 2024, Ms Kenewendo said Khoemacau Copper Mining (Pty) Ltd and its contractors employed 1 981 people at its operations at Zone 5 Mine and Boseto Processing Plant.
She said 1 300 were employed from outside the district, 328 from Northwest District, 353 from the eight communities in the vicinity of mine operations, adding that 21 employees were from Somelo.
Minister Kenewendo said it was desirable to employ as many as possible from the mine affected communities, however, the biggest challenge was lack of necessary skills or qualified people from such communities including Somelo.
“In future, Khoemacau Copper Mining (Pty) Ltd is planning to have targeted training programmes for residents of our mine affected communities, including Somelo, which will be conducted for jobs such as Plant Operators,” she said.
Ms Kenewendo said the ministry had encouraged the mine to work on training and economic programmes.
Furthermore, she said with more prospecting activities taking place along the North-west Copper Belt, which runs from Ghanzi District to North West District, there was hope that in the future, new mines may open in the area, employ more people from Somelo and other areas of Botswana during both mine development and operation.
The minister said the approach of collecting and using proceeds from mining had been and still was viewed as progressive, as it ensured sharing of proceeds from Botswana’s minerals across the country.
She said CSR as practiced by mining companies in Botswana was a purely voluntary initiative on the part of the companies and not legislated.
Regarding the employment of people by holders of mining concessions, she said section 12 of the Mines and Minerals Act provided that in all phases of operations, preference in employment be given to citizens of Botswana, to maximum extent possible and holders of Mining Licences must offer training programmes for the benefit of citizen employees to ensure growth of Botswana citizens employed in the mining industry.
As part of the CSR initiatives, Ms Kenewendo said mining companies trained and developed members from the communities immediately surrounding their operations, especially where there were limited skills and qualifications, so as to improve the proportions of local community members employed in mining operations.
She said mining companies paid government share of proceeds from mining in the form of lease fees, royalties, dividends where applicable, and taxes.
Ms Kenewendo said funds were channelled toward government’s consolidated fund and were subsequently used for the benefit of the nation, including communities hosting the mines.
Mr Kekgonegile had asked minister to be apprised on the affirmative action initiatives within the ministry for communities around mining areas and if such companies were legally bound to provide jobs and corporate social responsibility.
He also wanted to know whether the ministry was planning to facilitate provision of jobs and royalties to communities displaced by mines, and also provide the numbers of Somelo residents employed by Khoemacau.
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