Botswana plans to increase mining exploration, including for critical minerals, as part of efforts to diversify its economy beyond diamonds, Mines Minister Bogolo Joy Kenewendo said on Tuesday. The government intends to survey roughly 70 per cent of the country that remains unexplored.
The Southern African nation, long regarded as an African success story, has been hit by a prolonged downturn in the global diamond market, driven by economic uncertainty and the growing popularity of lab-grown stones. Diamonds contribute about one-third of Botswana’s national revenue.
Debswana Diamond Company, the country’s joint venture with De Beers that accounts for 90 per cent of Botswana’s diamond sales, has no plans to increase output amid the sluggish market.
“There is no use in us burning cash and stockpiling (diamonds),” Debswana CEO Andrew Motsomi said. At the end of December, Botswana had a stockpile of 12 million carats, nearly double the government’s allowable inventory level of 6.5 million carats.
While diamonds will remain central to the mining sector, Kenewendo said the government is moving to widen the mineral base to include high-value and critical minerals. A newly launched state-owned exploration company will focus on increasing exploration levels.
“We were doing more exploration looking for diamonds than looking for other high-value minerals. And now we’re going to change that,” she told Reuters at an African mining conference in Cape Town. “If you’ve only explored 30% of your country, it really just shows our strong focus on diamonds.”
Kenewendo noted that investor interest in exploration has been cautious, given the high risks of exploration without guaranteed returns. “We want to ensure that we have the right data, we know what’s where, so that we can also decide if we want to be investors in that space,” she said.
Botswana is the world’s top diamond producer by value and is also emerging as a copper-mining hotspot. Global interest in critical minerals, including copper and cobalt, has risen amid competition between the U.S. and China for resources used in advanced manufacturing.
The minister revealed that the U.S. has expressed interest in partnering with Botswana in exploration and mining, although discussions remain at an early stage. “We will see how that goes. We’re just engaging in general investments in the mineral space,” she said.
