Member Info for BOTS_PROJECTS

Large-scale production of solar energy is now a reality in Botswana. This southern African country has just installed two solar photovoltaic power plants. The largest, with a capacity of 3 MWp, is located in Bobonong, a sub-district in the east of the country. The other, with a capacity of 1 MWp, is located in the North-West district, in the town of Shakawe to be precise.

Both plants are expected to generate 10,000 MWh per year in the first year of operation. The plants were built under a public-private partnership (PPP) signed in 2020 between the Botswana government and Sturdee Energy, a company based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Sturdee Energy, an independent power producer (IPP), then enlisted the services of German company Soventix to install the panels, inverters and other equipment for the solar power plant. The electricity it produces is sold to the state-owned Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) under a 25-year contract.

The two plants required an investment of $5 million, which Sturdee financed with the support of ResponsAbility, an investment company based in Zurich, Switzerland. The Bobonong and Shakawe solar photovoltaic plants will help to diversify Botswana’s electricity mix. The country has an installed capacity of 993 MW, all of which is generated from fossil fuels, notably coal (80%) and gas, according to Power Africa. Solar energy is paving the way for the energy transition.

Dont forget what the bloke had in middle of his forehead

Your apology is accpeted. I am neither a GOAT or a donkey

This is Hot of the Press ! Forget all the clap trap about Our Survey said - Botswana is the least corrupt country in Africa; Botswana is business friendly jurisdiction. It is all a facade which thankfully is finally being exposed. This has to happen to force Govt to take action, stop being lazy, start to govern and start behaving responsibly towards business and investors. Botswana is a huge country by land mass, yet has light population. Hence the circular economy is shallow and without buying power.

I mentioned a while back about BPC not paying its subcontractors. I knew this because my friend's firm, who has been suppling services to BPC for well over a decade said back then, the arrears they were facing from slow payment by BPC had become critical and threatening their ongoing survival.

Finally it is being exposed locally there that Govt are The Problem! Payment arrears to the private sector are currently estimated in hundreds of millions Pula and growing. The private sector has been bank-rolling a hugely inefficent Govt and are now so badly stretched they are increasingly suing. Even the Attorney General's office has admitted the problem by publicly saying the Govt payments system is broken. Law suits are about to flow fast and aplenty.

There is no good news in this. This matters to Tlou and the wider economy - because decisions just wont be made. Even longer delays will continue to happen. And we soon head into year end extended holiday period, which means private sector companies are facing payment delays until Feb/ March 2024. Nobody wins in such a scenario !!

Damn - and there was me thinking Botswana as a country and economy was starting to come out of the decade and half of Khama misrule and malaise. No doubt the claims he siphoned off US dollar 10 billion will again surface and writers claim he is the source of all the evil. Hw was; he continues to fight for his life (exiled in Stellenbosch) hoping they cannot cobble together the fail-proof proof that he was worse than Mugabe or Zuma.

"criminally misleading" - ok.

Kalahari Energy is a gas exploration and energy development group of companies based in Gaborone, Botswana specialising in the extraction of Coal Bed Methane (“CBM”) from coal. As part of its business portfolio, KEB possesses a number of CBM prospecting licences/permits in Botswana along the eastern side of the Kalahari Karoo Basin.. Through an Invitation To Tender issued to Sekaname (Pty) Ltd, itself a subsidiary company in the KEB Group, Kalahari has responded to a closed tender for the development of a maximum of 100MW of CBM-fuelled pilot power plants in Botswana...

@Winni - you are correct in saying much of my info is old historical stuff, which I have no interest in posting here. If only Sleepy Joe was similarly minded, then maybe there would be some meaningful exchange of ideas and information here.

Brad, I do not understand why you post so much about something you clearly know little about. Sekaname pre-date Tlou and everyone else in CBM in Botswana. They were the sponsor or local player behind the 2003 geological survey that concluded there was an 'ocean' of CBM gas trapped in coals underground in Botswana. Once upon a time they had massive licence area, but it costs money to retain those licences so over time they sold down. Everything Tlou own currently used to be under Sekaname. (who did the early drilling). Same for Strata-X/Pure Hydrogen/ Botala.

Whether you like to admit it or not, take it from me that o know a lot more about on the ground / history of CBM in Botswana than you will ever do. Fact !

Please stop wasting space on this message board with your fanciful ideas. By example, Govt and Ministry control EVERYTHING so they are not 'keeping up'; they are dictating. Another FACT.

You talk about the 100MW tender - it was a RFP. Request For Proposal. Another FACT. (Not any of your dementia induced mixed up variants) What has happened to it and why Sekaname are no pushing on with their 97MW award under the RFP where they were confirmed as a 'Preferred Bidder' - well that i dont know. But neither do you, so dont pretend you do - YOU DON'T.

Then you blether 645MW - that is part of Botswana forward planning re IRP / Integrated Resource Plan. CBM is a miniscule part thereof - another FACT. And every part of the previously announced IRP (including the horse poop prattled by Minister Molale at the Botswana conference years ago) has surprise surprise BEEN DELAYED.

Power Africa (funded by US Govt) have been active in Botswana for decades. They are pushing for a massive 5 GW solar project located in Botswana and Namibia. Zimbabwe were initially signed up; dropped out because they are broke and also a basket-case of a country. Shame as is a beautiful place. This project will go ahead - AFTER next year elections. Delayed because the funders need to see who wins 2024 Elections (ie politics).

Please do everyone a favour on this board - there is not a need for you to keep posting all the stuff you have posted, repeatedly, for year after year. The 6 regulars here have heard in umpteen times; and sad to say, while everyone is entitled to their personal views, yours just come across as a Joe Biden aimless ramble where he goes off script and mumblefcuk noise just comes out his mouth. Try letting people that know about Botswana, and CBM in Botswana, and the political system in Botswana, and the CBM players in Botswana, and the stock market advances and therefore potential providers of equity and debt funding for home grown projects in Botswana, and other current affairs etc in Botswana that actually are relevant to how business and economy there is finally progressing.

In short, learn to show some respect and maybe, if you are alert enough, you will learn something of use, interest, perhaps even va

Tlou acquired their leases from somebody who had previously acquired them from Sekaname.

Strata-X acquired their leases from Sekaname initially. Strata-X blends into Pure Hydrogen who has further blended into Botala Energy (not Botswala). Per their website, they seem to have big plans and access to cash.

Sekaname are still Sekaname and they are still in Botswana. They were started by Julian Scales in early 200s and are Botswana family. Chris Scales was managing Sekaname during the 100MW tender process; he succumbed to covid sadly. I have no idea what has happened to their 97MW preferred bidder award under the 100MW RFP.

Botswana Stock Exchange performing well in recent months - I am expecting Energy companies to list there soon. Capital markets activity picking up nicely and long may this continue.

Announcement dated 12th October 2022 said:

"Approximately 250 tons of natural pozzolan will be extracted and processed at no cost to Sunrise. Mining equipment is being mobilised and the bulk sample is scheduled to be mined and delivered to the process plant this week for processing as soon as facilities allow. "

That was 1 year ago - surely not too much to ask for an update on this ?

There is negligible political will to make CBM work in Botswana. Why was that and why it still that? Especially when Govt issued a 100MW pilot project/tender at no cost to Govt other than Govt having to buy the electricity generated by the 2 preferred bidders. Where this cost would be significantly lower cost than what Govt has been paying for imported power for how many years now. Govt still have plenty of tools at their disposal to slow down Tlou progress - remember what TG said in recent announcement - there remains significant challenges ahead. WHY WHY WHY is Govt so darned motivated to make delivery of CBM so desperately slow ??

Good lord, I thought the previous post was classic rambling of irrelevance. How about this next one.

Politics matters in Botswana - only a blind fool refuses to acknowledge that. Does anyone spring to mind?

Soon be into year end shut down - for 2 months. Then elections in October 2024 will take over in Botswana for remainder of the year. Civil servants will shuffle paper but make no decisions of note. Power and energy in Botswana will continue to defy intelligent logic ie they wont rush to plug in new and alternate sources. Did any of you ever really question why that is....

The substations probably wont be ready before June 2024 - i wonder what the hard core here will talk about until then.

In meantime, go check the blurb on Botala Energy including Prospectus. It has similar data to Tlou's 2009 Prospectus (historical stuff) but it also includes more current detail on coal seams that both are trying to exploit. Tlou went horizontal in the thicker deeper seam; Botala are going vertical in the thiner, higher up seam. Why i wonder.

https://blog.burnsmcd.com/addressing-embodied-carbon-as-a-sustainability-issue

in 2021, roughly 6% of the world’s carbon emissions were a result of 2.9 billion tons of concrete placed. the prevalence of this human-made material means the use of concrete poses a significant sustainability issue.

traditional supplementary cementitious materials (scms): cement manufacturers are standardizing their blends of traditional cement with traditional scms (such as blast furnace ****, coal ash, natural pozzolan, etc.), making the final product much more consistent and predictable.

second generation scms: a collection of newcomers will help offset the loss of traditional scms. some of them are already in use and ramping up manufacturing, such as limestone calcined clays and pozzolans made from recycled glass. others, such as bio-mimicking and electrolyzed cements are still in the experimental phase.

there is loads and loads of this type of industry speak on prof google. and the trend for natural pozzolan as a scm replacement is well underway. and the ira will hopefully keep this turbo charged - unless numptie dt regains the oval office and repeals the ira (he chased the coal lobby votes last time - idiot).

sunrise have various deposits; so do many others; hopefully they all have their day - assuming they meet the correct specs from cement and concrete companies. sunrise has a decent ways to go to get product acceptance etc baked into supply chains (these are a decent ways off pivotong to pozzolans i worry - so maybe the banner year is 2024, not 2023). still i would take that !

Dont let truth get in the way of a good olde rambling then. Think it, type it, post it ......

Kinda hard to have an intelligent conversation if always figuring out if responding to CBM and Botswana problems v daily diary entries in no particular order. Frustrating. Then again I guess nothing can happen here until the substations are near completion. To get there needs money which hopefully is what this fund raise was all about. If not, oh dearie me we really are dealing with a few slippery hombres.

A sophisticated investor is a classification of investor indicating someone who has sufficient capital, experience and net worth to engage in more advanced types of investment opportunities.

Sophisticated investors are investors who have a high net-worth and extensive experience in financial markets.

There is no single correct definition of a sophisticated investor, and it varies based on country or circumstance.

While the term is sometimes used loosely to describe an investor who has demonstrated certain degrees of insight, acumen and success in the marketplace, there are specific legal definitions which determine what constitutes a sophisticated or accredited investor, and these definitions vary from country to country.

Https://www.botalaenergy.com/site/pdf/985e8614-05fd-4042-b626-8909b5320326/Serowe33-Well-Spudded-Commercial-Pilot-Programme.pdf

More from these guys. I am NOT advocating this company; rather my interest is because another CBM exploration company in Botswana is surely good for CBM there. And of course Tlou.

Https://www.miningweekly.com/article/coal-miner-exxaro-hunts-for-copper-assets-in-congo-zambia-and-botswana-2023-10-05

They probably are after a more established copper project - like Khoemacau. That said, Copper is front and centre now for the global players to secure supply side. All good news for the junior explorers like Kavango imo.

Jeez there really are some grim reapers inhabiting this board.

Gents, you made the decision to invest all by yourself.

There is crushing it, and also digging it, transporting it, drying it, crushing it, sorting it, bagging it, then transporting it .

If everything was as simple as folks here seem to think, then we would all be zillionaires and there would be 'world peace'.

Sorry ??

folks here seem to think just because a company finds a pozzolan deposit, there is a line of potential buyers queuing to buy it. what absolute poppy****! there is so much work needed to determine property characteristics required for cement and concrete operators - yet short term punters who find they have not turned a profit on their investment like to blame someone and anyone except the person who placed the bet in the first instance.

taken from geofortis website:

"in designing a concrete mix, many different properties must be considered and balanced. the most basic property is compressive strength. concrete compressive strength is generally a function of the cement characteristics, water to cement ratio (w/c), and properties of the aggregate. increasing the amount of cement and scms and/or reducing the amount of water for a given set of materials generally increases the compressive strength.

​​​​​​​there are many more properties of concrete that can become important in certain environments and structural applications, including alkali-silica reactivity (asr), efflorescence, freeze/thaw resistance, lightweight/heavyweight, sulfate resistance, low heat of hydration (in mass concrete), and shrinkage. engineers design the concrete mix to provide the best characteristics for the lowest cost. geofortis' pozzolans can improve concrete performance in many of these areas by reacting with unwanted compounds and making the concrete stronger, less permeable, or denser; resist cracking; or by delaying the chemical reactions to reduce heat."

test test and more testing is required when tying to substitute into supply chains - as safetrader now knows from his google searches on topic.

A reduction of 66% on entry investment is impeccable timing ?