Botswana mines plan more job cuts as global commodity slump hits
GABORONE — Botswana’s mining industry faces further job losses as it reels from the global slump in commodities, with copper miner BCL set to shed up to a third of its workforce and Gem Diamond also planning lay offs, the mines department said on Friday.State-owned BCL, Botswana’s biggest copper miner, estimates it will have to cut as many as 2,000 of its 6,000 workforce as it streamlines operations in the face of weak copper prices, currently at six-year lows, the department’s director told local newspaper Mmegi.London-listed Gem Diamond expects diamond production at its Ghaghoo mine in central Botswana to fall by more than half this year due to depressed demand for diamonds globally. It may have to lay off more than two-thirds of its workforce as it restructures to cope with the weak market.Botswana is the world’s biggest producer of diamonds, and exports of diamonds mined in the country fell 38% to $2.4 billion last year, the southern African country’s lowest shipment of gems in ...
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