According to Mmetla Masire, the permanent secretary for the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Botswana selected Premium Nickel Resources Corp. as the preferred bidder for its shuttered copper mining company, BCL Ltd.
In a Feb. 11 memorandum to remaining employees in the company, the privately held Canadian minerals investor has six months to perform due diligence before making an offer for the state-owned miner, Trevor Glaum, the liquidator of BCL, said. For comment on the memo, Glaum could not be reached.
According to a January presentation on the website of North American Nickel Inc., the Vancouver-based founding shareholder of Premium Nickel, Premium Nickel is seeking $26.5 million of funding to be used for its due-diligence operation.
Because of high operating costs and low base metal prices, BCL went into liquidation in October 2016. More than 5,000 workers were working by its mines at the time of they were closed, and have become a political sore point for the administration of President Mokgweetsi Masisi.
Educator, writer and legal researcher at Alafarika for Studies and Consultancy.