It is reported that the Tati operation in North East Botswana will be shut down for a period of 12 days whilst various options are being assessed as a result of the recent unforeseen furnace breakdown at the BCL Smelter in Botswana.

As per report, Tati mine is dependent on the BCL Smelter to process its concentrate and the smelter failure coupled with a steep decline in nickel prices has led to the decision to curtail operations for the period commencing December 24th 2008 to January 5th 2009, whilst Tati assesses various options to deal with this matter until such time as the BCL smelter has been repaired and is able to accept concentrate feed from Tati once again.

Tati has been conducting underground and opencast mining operations since the mid 1990’s with ore mainly being trucked to and processed at BCL’s Smelter operation. Tati has produced approximately 20,000 tonnes nickel contained in product over the last 12 months.

The company is planning to place its employees on formal paid leave during this time. This decision will not affect the company’s long term view of operations within Botswana.