BOTSWANA is accelerating mining exploration across 70% of its territory that has never been surveyed, as it seeks to reduce dependence on diamonds and capitalise on growing global demand for critical minerals.
“We were doing more exploration looking for diamonds than looking for other high-value minerals. And now we’re going to change that,” mines minister Bogolo Joy Kenewendo told Reuters on the sidelines of a mining conference in Cape Town.
A new state-owned exploration company will lead efforts to identify deposits of high-value minerals beyond diamonds, including those critical to advanced manufacturing, the newswire said.
The southern African nation has been badly affected by a prolonged slump in the diamond market, driven by economic weakness and the rising popularity of synthetic stones. Diamonds typically account for about a third of national revenue, leaving the country exposed to the sector’s volatility, it said.
Debswana Diamond Company, the joint venture between the government and De Beers responsible for 90% of the country’s diamond sales, has no intention of raising output. The company had accumulated a stockpile of 12 million carats by end-December — nearly twice the government’s permitted inventory ceiling of 6.5 million carats. “There is no use in us burning cash and stockpiling,” Debswana Diamond CEO Andrew Motsomi said.
Kenewendo said the US had expressed interest in partnering with Botswana on exploration and mining, though talks remained preliminary. Botswana is the world’s leading diamond producer by value and an emerging copper-mining destination.
