Kutlo Motseta
16th June 2025
The Minister of Minerals and Energy Ms. Bogolo Kenewendo implored participants at 2 day Mining Summit in Gaborone organized by Project magazine, to develop Botswana’s local mining sector beyond just diamond exploration.
“… there are abundant opportunities that are waiting to be unlocked, opportunities not only in diamonds but also far and beyond in base metals, rare earths and amongst others,” said Kenewendo.
She said, “We know that 75% of Botswana is largely unexplored,” adding that, “there is no mineral that is not critical to our economy.”
She discussed developments in the battery metals and manganese, citing developments underway in the Kanye region.
“The Menzi battery metals projects has also yielded positive result [as] we saw last week … they announced that they made their first shipment of battery grade from their project here in Botswana where they are mining in Kanye village. This company is driven by the ever-growing electric vehicle market and we are glad that the Menzi metal battery has been granted a license to mine manganese near Kanye Village and what they are doing in this space will position Botswana in the green transformation spaces,” said Kenewendo.
She identified other opportunities in the pipeline like Tshukudu Metals Botswana and MOG resources.
“… we are anticipating that they will increase their head of feed of and their tonnage from 3.2 million tons per annum to 5.2 million tonnes per annum. That’s increasing their copper concentrate production by approximately 50%,” she added.
However, she raised the challenges presented by the current global economic climate, geopolitical wars and global tariffs which have affected the economy.
She further explained that more work needs to be done in the coal sector saying, “coal is trading at US$90 a day, for it profitable needs to trade at US$200.” She added that the government will fight to keep Minergy Mine afloat in order to prevent job losses.
The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Botswana Geoscience Institute (BGi), Olefile Mashabile, emphasised the need to look beyond capitalising on diamonds, which have placed Botswana in pole position globally.
“In every corner of Botswana there are [different] minerals … The whole country is covered in minerals we just need investors …,” said Mashabile.
He encouraged more investors to come to Botswana citing the country’s ratings in reputed international mining publications such as Fraser index best practices and mineral potential index.
These sentiments were echoed by the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Botswana Investment and Trade Centre(BITC), Keletsositse Olebile, citing benefits such as governments willingness to engage in private public partnerships to increase Africa’s mere 3.5% in Foreign Direct Investment.
Executive Vice President, Diamond Trading, De Beers Group, Paul Rowley insisted that a ray of light was dawning for diamond sector. He stressed importance of overcoming current challenges such as the effects of the geopolitical conflicts in Isael, Ukraine and the way forward.
“I have no doubt that that the recovery will come and its coming … The industry needs to earn that recovery by working together to rebuild the desire the demand for the diamond,” said Rowley.
He spoke about the shifts in attitudes caused by the success of such films as the Hollywood block buster, “Blood Diamonds.”
“Today people want to know where their diamonds are coming from … starting from this year, all De Beers diamonds above one carrot in the rough have a single country of origin. Registered on its blockchain register tracer,” said Rowley.
He said, “The new Botswana’s agreement includes initiatives to support both talent development within Botswana and creation of the Diamonds for Development fund. The fund has been designed to accelerate the diversification of Botswana’s economy.”
He further said that, “It will focus on supporting entrepreneurs in areas such as green energy, tourism and agriculture. De Beers will begin with an upfront investment of P1 billion and they will invest further contributions over the next 10 years which could total 10 billion”.
Mpho Masupe, Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Standard Charted Bank expressed their commitment to Botswana’s economic aspirations.
“We have deep pockets, those deep pockets are not going anywhere, we’re not leaving the country … We stand ready to provide those all those billions you are asking for,” said Masupe.
Summit Chair, Chairman of Botswana Chamber of Mine and CEO of Morupule Coal Mine, Edwin Elias said the conference had grown since last year, increasing its delegates from 470 to over 600 and increasing its sponsors from 16 to 27.
The minister applauded the hosts and relevant stakeholders and encouraged their efforts.
“We are proud to have endorsed this initiative we want to see this platform grow and to evolve into one of the most the most influential conference not just in Africa but in the world,” said Elias.
