TATI

Tati Company Limited

Tati Company Limited is a UK-incorporated holding company (Co. 134419) that held the remaining extent of the Tati Concessions in the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana) and, through a web of associated entities, controlled a portfolio of land and mineral rights spanning Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The thought exists in this archive because Tati Company Limited is the corporate vehicle through which the Glazer family's southern African mineral rights were held and administered after Bernard Glazer and his brother Samuel acquired the company in 1955, and because it received Bechuanaland Exploration Company's claims against the Zambian government in 1988.

Formation: the 1914 reconstruction

Tati Company Limited was incorporated on 6 March 1914 under UK company law, with its registered office at 18 St. Swithrins Lane, City of London. It was formed to acquire the undertaking and assets of Tati Concessions Limited, which had been incorporated in 1895 and was being wound up. The purchase price was £295,593 15s, satisfied by the issue of 394,125 shares credited as 15s paid, plus the discharge of Tati Concessions Limited's debts and liabilities.

The first directors were Alfred Adam (barrister), Stanley Clay (mining engineer), Andrew Dodds Fairbairn (chartered accountant), Charles Vivian Thomas (solicitor), and George Benjamin Tydd (stockbroker). The auditors were Whinney Smith & Whinney of Old Jewry, London. Share capital was £400,000 divided into 400,000 shares of £1 each. The underwriting agreement was dated 10 February 1914, with Messrs Snell & Swaffield of Copthall Buildings, London.

The company's objects were broad: to develop the resources of any lands or rights it held, to carry on exploration and mining business, to promote and finance other companies, to deal in property and mining rights, to conduct financial and banking business, to acquire concessions from any sovereign state or authority, and generally to carry on commercial, industrial and mercantile business.

The Tati Concession and early operations

The Tati Concession — a triangular area of approximately 700 square miles (1,800 km²) in what is now north-eastern Botswana — originated from three separate grants made by the British South Africa Company in 1895. By 1922 it had been subdivided and assigned to three companies: Kafue Copper Development Co Ltd, Bechuanaland Exploration Co Ltd, and The South African Townships Mining & Finance Corporation Ltd. Tati Company Limited held the remaining extent of the original Tati Concessions after this subdivision.

The company did not engage in mining on its own account. It collected revenue from royalties and claims licences paid by claimholders operating in the Tati District. In the year ended 28 February 1937, this revenue amounted to £6,072. At that time the company had 22,281 acres leased under Permit of Occupation, with a further 755,987 acres remaining open for occupation (excluding a 220,000-acre Native Reserve). The resident general manager was D.W. Dewar, based in Francistown.

Gold mining in the district was active. The principal mines were the Monarch Mine (owned by Tati Goldfields Limited), the Phoenix Mine (described as "the most outstanding discovery in Tati during recent years", down to 600 feet with consistent ore grade), the Map Mine, Todd's Creek Mine, the Charlie Mine (sunk to 250 feet), and the Gem Mine (reaching producing stage). At Matsiloje, extensive prospecting continued on a lengthy strike of banded ironstone. 46 prospecting licences were issued in 1937 and 36 blocks of claims were registered.

Capital restructuring

The company underwent significant capital reductions. By a Special Resolution of 29 September 1922, capital was reduced from £300,000 (400,000 shares of 15s each) to £235,000 10s (313,334 shares of 15s each) by cancelling 86,666 shares. This reduction was tied to the transfer of territorial rights over approximately 260,000 acres in the Tati District to the Bechuanaland Exploration Company Limited, which held the cancelled shares as consideration.

A further Special Resolution of 24 July 1924 reduced capital from £235,000 10s to £156,667 by reducing each share from 15s to 10s and returning 5s per share to holders — partly in cash and partly via debenture stock at 4% per annum. The High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, confirmed both reductions (Mr Justice P.O. Lawrence on 5 June 1923; Mr Justice Romer on 27 January 1925).

1955–1956: the Glazer acquisition

The critical change in the company's ownership came in 1955–56. Samuel Lieb Glazer, J.P., and Bernard Glazer acquired Tati Company Limited. The management and control moved from London to Southern Rhodesia on 14 March 1956, and then to the Union of South Africa on 22 June 1956. All previous directors resigned and a new board was constituted:

• Samuel Lieb Glazer, J.P.
• Bernard Glazer
• Cecil Isadore Jacobs (resigned June 1956)
• John Alexander Stirling (resigned June 1956)
• Frank Walsh (resigned June 1956)
• Pieter van Wyk de Vries (appointed June 1956)

Thereafter the board consisted of the two Glazers and Pieter van Wyk de Vries. Bernard Glazer also maintained a private and creditors ledger for Tati Company Limited.

Subsidiary and associated companies

In 1964 the company incorporated Tati Territory Exploration Company Limited (TTE), a Botswana-registered subsidiary, and entered into a notarial prospecting contract with it on 17 August 1964. Over the following decade mineral rights were progressively ceded between the two companies — Tati Company ceding specific mineral areas to TTE (Areas 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 NQ, 1969–1970), while retaining the remaining extent of the original Tati Concessions under Certificate of Rights to Minerals No. 94.

In 1985, the Tati Nickel Mining Company (Proprietary) Limited (TNMC) was formed, with shareholding that included Anglo American (21%), De Beers (22%), Francistown Mining & Exploration (42%) and the Government of Botswana (15%). In 1988, Tati-Gallic (Pty) Limited was incorporated.

Agreements with the Botswana Government

The company entered into successive agreements with the Government of Botswana: in February 1970 (alongside Bechuanaland Exploration Company), in August 1972, and in July 1981. These agreements governed the company's mineral rights and land holdings in Botswana. The 1970 agreement included a provision that the government would not receive better title than Bechuanaland Exploration or Tati.

In 1974, the company executed Notarial Deeds of Abandonment of certain mineral rights (No. 32/74 and 33/74), while TTE abandoned its cession of 12 mineral areas. A mineral rights tax exemption commenced from 30 June 1974.

The Zambian claims

In 1988, all claims that Bechuanaland Exploration Company held against the Zambian government — relating to land and mineral rights expropriated in approximately 1970 — were transferred to Tati Company Limited for a nominal Z$2. The transfer related to at least three farms (Kafue Hot Springs, Sugar Loaf, and Ninga) in the Kafue area, plus two others (Chanobie and Algoa) and broader land and mineral rights previously owned by BEC. A formal agreement was not concluded; the transaction was effected by journal entries in the companies' financial records.

In 1991, Sam Glazer (Bernard's son and Trustee of the Glazer Will Trust) wrote to Armstrong Attorneys in Botswana seeking advice on how to proceed with the claims and/or reinstatement of the assets. The Zambian Registry of Lands and Deeds has confirmed that Tati Company Limited currently owns Farms No. 709 and 726.

The company received compensation of Zim$49 million from the Government of Botswana in relation to its holdings.

What is not established

The exact sequence of expropriations is unclear. The BEC financial statements recorded three expropriated farms "consistently from 1970 onwards", but the broader claim transferred to Tati appears to cover additional land and mineral rights whose status is not documented in the corpus.

The current operational status of Tati Company Limited is not established. The last known capital increase was in 2001 — the first since 1914. The company's relationship with Tati Nickel Mining Company and whether it retains active mineral rights outside the Zambian claims is not documented in the corpus.

Tati Company Limited's connection to the wider Rhodes / BSAC concession network is structural rather than evidentiary. The company operated under the same concession architecture as Bechuanaland Exploration, but this corpus does not contain a document that directly links Tati Company Limited's formation to Cecil Rhodes or the British South Africa Company's original grant.

Provenance

• Formation, incorporation, directors, objects and capital structure, 1922–1925 capital reductions, 1937 operations and mine descriptions — Tati Company Limited corporate records (Memorandum and Articles of Association 1914, Special Resolutions 1922/1924, Report of the Directors 1937, Statement in Lieu of Prospectus). Source files: BF_Tati_Concessions_Draft_1_August_07.pdf, BF_Tati_Concessions_saved_2_August_07.pdf, TATI COMPANY LIMITED (6).pdf.
• Glazer acquisition and 1956 board changes — Tati Company minutes and annual accounts archived in BF_Botswana_minerals_saved_405_pm_7_aug_07.pdf and BF_Botswana_draft_6_Aug_06.pdf.
• Subsidiary formations (TTE 1964, Tati Nickel 1985, Tati-Gallic 1988) — Certificates of incorporation and annual returns in the Blue File corpus.
• Botswana Government agreements (1970, 1972, 1981) — Agreement texts in BF_Botswana_&_Glazer_Minerals_portfolio_&_LionOre_Norlisk_N&A_7_Aug_07_627_pm_134_pgs.pdf and associated files.
• Zambian claims transfer and Sam Glazer letter (1988–1992) — Sam Glazer correspondence and the researcher's analysis in the Zambia / Zimbabwe thought's note (child of the jump link). See that note for the full letter and legal analysis.
• Compensation of Zim$49 million — Graph edge reference (chunk weight data).
• NOT ESTABLISHED IN THIS CORPUS — Tati Company Limited's current operational status and any post-2001 activities. The 1887 Tati Concession origin and the British South Africa Company's original grants, which are referenced but not contained in the corporate records.

Where to read further

Bechuanaland Exploration Company — the child thought, holds the corporate history of BEC, the company that was Tati's principal counterparty in the 1922 land transfer and the 1988 Zambian claims transfer. Zambia / Zimbabwe — the jump thought, contains the Sam Glazer correspondence and the detailed analysis of the Zambian claims, including the 1964 White Paper on mineral rights. The synthesis above draws on that note but the primary documents are there. Companies — the parent thought, places Tati in the broader structure of the archive's corporate entities.