The former employees who will receive benefits are those who worked for the mine when it was under the ownership of Messina Copper Botswana before the mine was placed under liquidation in November 2015. Dutch firm, Max Power purchased the mine last year. It was renamed Kopano Copper Mine in December.
Yesterday Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) executive secretary, Kitso Phiri, told BusinessWeek that 130 of the 400 employees who will receive terminal benefits are unionised. In total, Kopano Copper Mine will pay slightly over P23 million to former Mowana employees. Phiri added that the Union will also write to the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security (MMGE), Botswana Revenue Service (BURS) and Ministry of Finance and Economic Development proposing a tax amnesty for the former employees. “Given that it has been seven years since Messina was liquidated, former employees should receive a tax amnesty as the value of the monies has been seriously eroded,” Phiri told BusinessWeek.
Last year when Kopano offered to take over Mowana, it agreed to pay all outstanding debts including monies owed for employee benefits and other debts owed to creditors.
Leboam Holdings acquired Mowana from Messina in 2017 but stopped operations in December 2018 owing to financial challenges. Leboam could not service its debts and its creditors placed it under provisional Judicial Management, first and then under Judicial Management two months later.
The monies (owed to former Mowana employees and creditors), were agreed to be paid through a scheme of compromise proposed by Kopano, being a negotiated payment schedule. Under the settlement, smaller trade creditors with proven claims of less than P250,000 are to get full payment, while those with higher claims will get 25 thebe of every pula owed above P250,000.
