Botswana’s government is launching one of the boldest shake-ups in its mining sector yet, putting mineral exploration, processing, and citizen involvement front and center. The goal? To break free from heavy reliance on diamonds and spark a fresh wave of mineral wealth.
At the Future of Mining Summit, Minister of Minerals and Energy, Bogolo Kenewendo, laid out the government’s ambitious vision: to turn Botswana into a top-tier destination for mineral exploration. This means ramping up investment in minerals beyond diamonds, boosting geological understanding, and rolling out sweeping regulatory reforms designed to transform the mining landscape.
This push comes at a tough time for Botswana’s diamond industry. Global demand for natural diamonds has cooled, thanks to shifting consumer tastes, the rise of lab-grown diamonds, and economic uncertainty in key markets. With exports and government revenue feeling the pinch, the need to diversify couldn’t be clearer.
In response, the government has set a bold target: increase spending on non-diamond mineral exploration to P150 million by 2029. They believe this will spark the kind of mining investments needed to fuel growth well beyond diamonds.
Kenewendo highlighted Botswana’s huge untapped geological potential but admitted that exploration; the critical first step in mining; has long been underfunded. “Exploration is one of the most capital-intensive and highest-risk phases of mining,” she said. “Investors spend millions of pula searching for economically viable deposits with no guarantee of success.” This risk has often scared off investment, even though Botswana is known for its political stability and solid mining reputation.
To turn the tide, the government is rolling out a package of measures to make Botswana more attractive to exploration companies. These include better access to geological data, improved resource mapping, modernized geological databases, and new risk-reducing mechanisms designed to lower barriers for investors.
Access to reliable geological data is crucial because it cuts down uncertainty and helps companies zero in on promising mineral prospects more quickly.
To back this up, Botswana has already launched a state-owned exploration company, the Exploration Investment Company Botswana (EICB). Its mission? To unlock the country’s largely unexplored mineral wealth while partnering with private investors.
Kenewendo explained that the EICB aims to fill a long-standing investment gap that has slowed exploration for years. “Rather than replacing private investment, the entity will collaborate with exploration companies and strategic partners to accelerate the discovery of commercially viable mineral deposits,” she said.
Industry watchers have long argued that Botswana’s mining sector remains underexplored compared to other mineral-rich regions, despite the country’s political stability, transparent regulations, and respected mining governance.
The government sees ramped-up exploration as the key to uncovering minerals beyond diamonds, broadening the resource base, and fueling industrialization and export diversification.
Kenewendo also revealed that new Mines and Minerals Regulations are in the works, set to fundamentally reshape how Botswana’s mining sector operates.
A major change will be the introduction of minimum beneficiation requirements across various minerals. This signals the government’s push to ensure more minerals are processed locally before hitting the export market.
For decades, Botswana has aimed to boost value addition in mining, arguing that exporting raw minerals limits jobs, industrial growth, and opportunities for citizen-owned businesses.
Now, beneficiation is set to become a cornerstone of future mining projects; encouraging greater investment in downstream processing, refining, and manufacturing.
The proposed regulations will also tighten the renewal process for prospecting and mining licenses. Kenewendo said the goal is to curb speculative license holding, where companies snap up mineral rights but don’t follow through with meaningful exploration or development.
Citizen economic empowerment is another big piece of the reforms.
The government plans to beef up local content rules to open more doors for Batswana businesses, entrepreneurs, and workers throughout the mining value chain.
The aim isn’t just to boost citizen ownership in mining but also to build strong domestic supply chains that can support the industry’s long-term growth.
Local procurement, skills training, technology transfer, and enterprise development are expected to play bigger roles in future mining projects.
All these reforms are part of the government’s wider economic transformation plan, which seeks to turn mining into a driver of industrialization; not just a source of export cash.