Modern Mining May 2019

COUNTRY FOCUS: BOTSWANA

Botswana’s mining sector presents a mixed picture With the annual Botswana Resource Sector Conference imminent (it will be held in Gaborone on 10/11 June), Modern Mining’s Arthur Tassell takes a look at the mining scene in Botswana. The health of the country’s mining industry is difficult to gauge. On the hand, five mines have ceased operations over the past several years; on the other, there are at least two substantial newmines on the near horizon. The country’s mining sector has also been buoyed by Debswana’s recent decision to proceed with the massive Cut-9 project at its flagship mine, Jwaneng.

D ebswana, a 50/50 joint venture between the Government of Bot­ swana and De Beers, is this year celebrating its 50th anniversary. Three of its four mines are now very mature, having started up in the 1970s and 1980s, so the news that its key asset, Jwaneng, which was commissioned in 1982, will have its life extended to at least 2035 is a very welcome development. The US$2 billion project is ex- pected to yield an estimated 53 Mct of rough diamonds from 44 Mt of treated material and, at its peak, create more than 1 000 jobs, the vast majority of them held by Batswana.

Jwaneng is absolutely critical to Botswana’s econ- omy, given that Debswana’s operations have been the foundation of Botswana’s economic success since it gained its independence in the1960s and that Jwaneng, in turn, is the biggest contrib- utor to Debswana’s revenues. In 2018 the mine accounted

Debswana’s Jwaneng diamond mine has been a pillar of Botswana’s mining industry since being opened in the early 1980s. The Cut-9 project assures its life to at least 2035.

for approximately half of Debswana’s total carat production of 24,1 Mct but its high-grade ore means that its contribution to Debswana’s

26  MODERN MINING  May 2019