Formal employment in the Mining & Quarrying sector fell significantly by 26.2% in December 2016, translating to 3,244 net jobs lost. Formal employment decreased to 9,372 in December 2016 from 12,372 in September 2016. This contributed to overall Private sector employment decline of 1.5%, from 197,107 to 194,202 in September 2016 and December 2016 respectively. During this period, Botswana's largest copper and nickel mine (BCL) was placed under provisional liquadation resulting in thousands of job losses.