Selebi-Phikwe
| Selebi-Phikwe | |
|---|---|
| City | |
 Selebi-Phikwe
|
|
| Coordinates: 21°58′33″S 27°50′24″E / 21.97583°S 27.84000°ECoordinates: 21°58′33″S 27°50′24″E / 21.97583°S 27.84000°E | |
| Country |
 Botswana
|
| District | Central |
| Elevation | 878 m (2,881 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 49,724 |
| Time zone | Central Africa Time (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | not observed (UTC+2) |
| ISO 3166 code | BW-CE |
| Climate | BSh |
Selebi-Phikwe (also spelt Selibe Phikwe) is a mining town located in the Central District of Botswana. It had a population of 49,849 in 2001 which is now estimated to have risen to c.52000. The town is an administrative district, separate from the surrounding Central District.
Nickel mining commenced in 1973 and has been the main activity since. The complex includes a mine and a smelter. All operations are now deep mining. Originally there were two tiny places called Selebi and Phikwe, which straddled a large undiscovered deposit of copper and nickel in the area. When the mineral wealth of the area was discovered in the 1960s a mine and a township were built in the woodland between the places with the combined name of Selebi-Phikwe.
The main source of employment is the Bamangwato Concessions Ltd. (BCL) mine which excavates and smelts mixed copper-nickel ore from several shafts in deep and opencast mines. The opencast pit is now unused. Ore is transported from the shaft by rail for smelting. The locomotives used are steam-powered, having been bought from National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) and South African Railways (SAR).
BCL only intended to stay in operation until 2010 and more recently 2013. The nickel price, at a high in April 2008, justified further exploration and it is now expected that mining operations will continue to 2020 and perhaps beyond. It is not clear if new shafts will be opened, but the present shafts will be exhausted in a few years' time. The mine used to, and may still, have the longest cable-belt system in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Botswana Prison Service (BPS) operates the Selebi-Phikwe Prison.
The activities of BCL causes a lot of damage among the local community by polluting the environment and causing crackholes damaging houses and the local graveyard. These "site-effects" as they are being called, take place without any financial compensation to the local people. A study carried out in 2009, funded by the EU, showed severe levels of sulfur dioxide and particulate nickel emissions. Sulfur dioxide becomes sulfurous and sulfuric acids when absorbed in water from the atmosphere or when inhaled. It is known as 'acid rain' in Europe and is one of the highest such polluters in the world. Nickel emissions are considered by the EU to be carcinogenic although this is disputed by the Botswana authorities. The pollution is particularly severe around the mine and smelter, in the town of Mmadinare and in the area to the south west of Selebi-Phikwe. As far as is known, no health impact surveys have been carried out by independent researchers. The EU, who have supported the BCL operation for about 20 years, commissioned a study into acid impact during 2009. It is not known if any actions have resulted from this study.
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