HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Selebi-Phikwe (also spelt ''Selibe Phikwe'') is a mining
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an or ...
located in the Central District of
Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...
. It had a population of 42,488 in 2022. The town is an administrative district, separate from the surrounding Central District.


Mining

Nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...
mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
commenced in 1973 and has been the main activity since. The complex includes a mine and a
smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ...
. 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 was the BCL Limited mine which excavated and smelted 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 were steam-powered, having been bought from
National Railways of Zimbabwe The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), formerly Rhodesia Railways, is a state-owned company in Zimbabwe that operates the country's national railway system. It is headquartered in the city of Bulawayo. In addition to the headquarters, it has ...
(NRZ) and
South African Railways Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people ...
(SAR). BCL only intended to stay in operation until 2010 and more recently 2013. It finally ceased operations in September 2016 putting thousands out of work.


Government and infrastructure

The
Botswana Prison Service The Botswana Prison Service (BPS) is the corrections agency of Botswana. It holds pre-trial and convicted prisoners.Prisons and Rehabilitation
"
Archive
Government of Botswana The Government of Botswana often abbreviated as GOB, is the union government created by the constitution of Botswana having the executive, parliament, and the judiciary. The Seat of the Government is located in Gaborone, Botswana. The governm ...
. Retrieved on 26 March 2013.
Phikwe Industrial Area provides premises for Factories and Business Houses as ancillary for the Mine. Construction companies include Watson, GSP, etc., SP Electricals, Britannia Backers, George Backers and Change and CO. The town is also home to the Eastern Military Garrison run by the
Botswana Defence Force The Botswana Defence Force (BDF, tn, Sesole Sa Botswana) is the military of Botswana. The main component of the BDF is the Botswana Ground Force; there is also an air wing and a riverine patrol contingent attached to the ground forces, with 10 ...
. Voice of America Botswana Shortwave Relay Facility


Energy

A small coal-fired
power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...
was built along with the mine to meet the electricity needs of the mining operation and the surrounding area. Until the late 1980s, this was the only power station in Botswana. It was closed down some years ago when the
Morupule Power Station Morupule Thermal Power Station is a coal-fired power station in Botswana. It is responsible for an estimated 80 percent of the country's domestic power generation. Location The power station is located near the town of Palapye, in the Centra ...
began to produce power. Most of the electricity demand was met by importing electricity from
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
. In the current situation of 'rationing' by the South African power supplier
Eskom Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. It was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) and was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM). Eskom repres ...
, Botswana suffers from power shortages. In 2010, a private company ENERGY POINT (PTY) LTD, promoted by a foreign direct investor from India, started its operation of the Manufacturing of UPS, inverters, surge protectors etc. But the investor could not continue due to non compliance of BEDI and a government promise to provide basic infrastructure such as industrial land etc. Still, the company made a significant mark in this area giving most of the businesses and residences an uninterrupted power supply.


Amenities and tourism

The town itself has a principal
shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
, First Shopping Mall LESEDI shopping mall with ABC Bank and Barclays Extension Counter, Phikwe Square. There are five in-town hotels (Hotel Stonehouse, Hotel Selebi, Cresta Bosele, Syringa Lodge and Travel Inn), several guest houses and a number of serviced apartment complexes. The Phokoje Bush Lodge is about seven kilometres from town. The town has a small airport which only operates during daylight hours but does not have refuelling facilities. It has a
technical college An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of t ...
for artisan level training. A College of Applied Arts & Technology is being planned. The town is on a
tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
route from South Africa to the popular destinations of Okavango and Chobe. There is significant potential for
birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...
and
fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...
(bass and bream are well established but are not indigenous) at the Letsibogo Dam but, unfortunately, it is difficult to gain access to the dam due to rough terrain and necessity to camp on the shore. An experimental population of tigerfish (indigenous to the
Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature ...
basin) was introduced in 2009 which has proven that the environment would be suitable. The introduced population is thought to be insufficient for breeding. There are some local camp sites a few kilometres away from the dam. The water and wildlife at Letsibogo do not appear to have been negatively impacted by the pollution from BCL. Selebi-Phikwe has seven government schools and across the town, Selebi Phikwe Senior Secondary School. Private schools include Kopano Primary, Morula Primary and Mount Pleasant Primary. Selebi Phikwe hosts the biggest
marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
in Botswana, the Phikwe Marathon; it was started by the late Boet Kahts and Phill Roberts who was a teacher at Selebi Phikwe Senior Secondary School in 1985 as a gesture of Community Service. The Marathon is classified as one of the best in the world by the
International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
(IAAF). A report for SPEDU (Selebi Phikwe Economic Development), a local Regional Development Agency, suggests that there is significant potential for expansion of the marathon and also to apply the skills and experience gained by running that event for other events such as cross country cycling and quad biking and for bass fishing competitions at the Letsibogo Dam. The latter site also offers potential for bird watching and
sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...
if the infrastructure mentioned above were to be established.


Notable people

* Shepard Mosekgwa (born 1976), Botswanan retired footballer


References


External links


Selibe Phikwe Airport
{{Authority control Populated places in Central District (Botswana) Mining communities in Africa Mining in Botswana