The platinum deposits have been spotted in the Gantsi and Chobe areas. Platinum is a rare mineral with wide industrial usages, including in the production of optical fibres and turbine blades.
One of the critical minerals, manganese, has been confirmed to occur in a vast deposit in the Kanye area. A developer in the area is close to commercial operations. The latest discoveries suggest that the mining sector will continue to reap rich rewards for the country, even as its mainstay – diamonds – reaches maturity in the next few decades.
BGI CEO, Olefile Cisco Mashabila, said the new discoveries had the potential to earn the country an additional “100+ years of continued mining”. Speaking in a panel discussion on mining at the recently ended Global Expo, Mashabila said the parastatal’s continuous exploration and studies had confirmed the presence of early 30 critical minerals that are yet to be mined in the country.
“There is an opening up of opportunities in the mining of other minerals in the country and I can confirm that Botswana has discovered close to all 30 critical minerals declared by the US Department of State,” he said. The US, in its Energy Act of 2020, defined a “critical mineral” as a non-fuel mineral or mineral material essential to the economic or national security of the US and which has a supply chain vulnerable to disruption. Critical minerals are also characterised as serving an essential function in the manufacturing of a product, the absence of which would have significant consequences for the economy or national security. “As a country, from the critical mineral list, we have only thus far been able to mine copper and nickel but we are in possession of so much more,” Mashabila said.
“Prospecting in the western part of the country has previously led to the opening of three mines and we expect more than this in the coming years.” Speaking in the same panel discussion, Lucara Botswana CEO, Naseem Lahri, said the mineral discoveries present Botswana with an opportunity to present itself as a mining haven and strategic supplier of critical minerals to a growing global market. “Opportunities will open up for the supply of minerals necessary for the growth of other sectors such as agriculture as some minerals can be beneficiated to make agricultural machines and fertilisers,” she said.
