18 Mar 2024

Government and the private sector are pivotal in deriving optimal beneficiation from the mining and energy sector.

Botswana Chamber of Mines, Chief Executive Officer, Mr Charles Siwawa, expressed the sentiments during a panel discussion held alongside a two-day conference and expo on mining and energy in Gaborone on Thursday.

Mr Siwawa said the African Mining Vision promulgated by the African Union in Addis Ababa in 2008 stated that the continent was endowed with mineral wealth and regrettably not used in the mineral value chain.

He said Africa exported semi-finished products to anywhere across the world and the idea was to move from that model and have host countries benefiting extensively from their minerals.

Ms Evelyn Gondo, the sales manager of  JA Solar, said from a SADC perspective Botswana had every ingredient necessary to make a true success story in the mining and energy sector.

Ms Gondo said the only obstacle the country faced was the inconsistency in the implementation of structural reforms. However, she applauded the government for putting in place beneficiation measures.

She said Botswana was blessed with educational institutions where there was local expertise, talents and transfer of knowledge that could be used in growing both sectors.

Ms Gondo said the amount of vast land the country was endowed with also presented an opportunity to carry out energy projects, whether be it expanding coal factories or thermal power stations.

She added that Botswana had the best net-metering rules in SADC because it offered a higher rate compared to neighbouring countries making it suitable for anyone looking to invest in the energy sector and the support was readily available through BPC and BITRI.

She also said with excess coal available, Botswana stood at a better advantage to produce electricity and sell to the Southern regions through the SAPP, thereby strengthening its currency and creating more jobs for its citizenry.

Moreover, she said, Botswana was positioned to be a net exporter of electricity given her geographical positioning and the presence of functional thermal power stations and no power cuts internally, saying there were no issues in first supplying the domestic market before satisfying external demand.

Ms Gondo said with energy efficiency, some of the power that was being generated now could converted into heightened currency to add to the country's investment portfolio and further be used in the research and development space.

For his part, Old Mutual Short-term Insurance Managing Director, Mr Mosimanegape Molefi, said for Botswana to become the regional hub for energy, there were some investment statistics required including upfront capital needed to drive the agenda. 

Mr Molefi said there was need to think about packaging and selling Botswana's business case in terms of its feasibility and ability to pay back to investors.

He also agreed that the infrastructure was there, however, there was need to convince investors about their return on investment.

Mr Molefi said though the government had introduced structural reforms to allow locals to capitalize on rooftop solar panels and linkages to the BPC grid there had not been a significant uptake among citizens. 

He said this was an issue of mindset which had to change especially regarding the use of solar energy which generally people perceived to be of low quality.

Moreover, Mr Molefi said the cost of solar panels which was high had been very prohibiting for the general public to adopt, as such people preferred to buy panels just to augment the power supply by Botswana Power Corporation.

Speaking to the new opportunities and projects for coal, copper, diamond, nickel and critical minerals, Mr Molefi said all these were deemed critical transition minerals quite important in changing the country's energy mix and having it more inclined towards renewables.

He said ideally the opportunities stemmed from repurposing and repositioning all these minerals to be used in other items such as copper wirings, steel iron production and other finished products ready to be exported for high value. ENDS