Botswana plans to ramp up mining exploration beyond diamonds, including for critical minerals, as it seeks to diversify its resource-dependent economy and reduce vulnerability to swings in the global diamond market, Mines and Energy Minister Bogolo Joy Kenewendo said on Tuesday.
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the annual Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town, Kenewendo said the government would intensify exploration efforts across large swathes of the country that remain largely unexplored.
“About 70% of Botswana has not been properly explored,” she said. “If you’ve only explored 30% of your country, it really just shows how strong our historic focus on diamonds has been.”
Botswana, the world’s top diamond producer by value, has long been regarded as an African success story due to its prudent management of diamond revenues. However, the country has been hit hard by a prolonged downturn in the global diamond market, driven by economic uncertainty, softer consumer demand and the growing popularity of lab-grown stones.
Diamonds typically account for around one-third of Botswana’s national revenue and roughly three-quarters of its foreign exchange earnings, making the economy particularly exposed to fluctuations in the sector.
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While diamonds will remain the backbone of the mining industry, Kenewendo said the government was pressing ahead with plans to broaden the country’s mineral base, including into critical minerals used in energy transition technologies, advanced manufacturing and electronics.
“To diversify the economy, we have to diversify the minerals we produce,” she said.
A newly launched state-owned exploration company will play a central role in the strategy, with a mandate to raise exploration levels and generate geological data that can de-risk investment for both the government and private sector.
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“There’s a little hesitation from investors to go into exploration because you can lose a lot of money by exploring and not hitting anything,” Kenewendo said. “We want to make sure we have the right data, that we know what’s where, so that we can also decide where we want to be investors ourselves.”
Botswana is already emerging as a regional copper-mining hotspot, and officials believe the country also has untapped potential in minerals such as cobalt, nickel and rare earth elements, which are increasingly sought after as the world transitions toward cleaner energy systems.
Global competition for critical minerals has intensified in recent years, particularly between the United States and China, as countries seek to secure supply chains for strategic resources.
Kenewendo said the United States had expressed interest in partnering with Botswana in exploration and mining, though discussions remained at an early stage.
“We will see how that goes,” she said. “Right now, we are just engaging on general investment opportunities in the mineral space.”
Botswana’s push mirrors a broader trend across Africa, where governments are seeking to move beyond the export of raw materials by encouraging local processing, value addition and greater state participation in mineral development.
At the Mining Indaba, African leaders have repeatedly called for coordinated policies that strengthen the continent’s bargaining power in global markets and prevent a “race to the bottom” in competition for foreign investment.
For Botswana, diversification is increasingly seen as a fiscal and economic necessity rather than a long-term aspiration. Slower diamond sales in recent years have weighed on government revenues, growth and employment, prompting renewed urgency around expanding non-diamond mining and other sectors of the economy.
Kenewendo said expanding exploration would not deliver immediate results but was critical for long-term resilience.
“Exploration is a long game,” she said. “But if we don’t start now, we will still be having the same conversation 20 years from today.”
