Efforts to transform coal reserves on going

13 Jun 2024

As part of the plan to decarbonise the mining sector, Botswana is seeking to industrilalise its economy by transforming its coal reserves to value-added clean synthetic fuel in an effort to achieve net zero emission by 2050.

Making a presentation during the Future of Mining Summit, Botswana Investment and Trade Center (BITC) chief executive officer, Mr Keletsositse Olebile stated that the country’s coal mining sector would in the long term expand at a solid pace owing to government drive to be a net exporter of electricity by 2030.

Mr Olebile said coal fired generation would continue to dominate Botswana’s power mix over the 2024-2023 period adding that the coal sector would also benefit from rising regional coal demand and competitive operating costs.

This he said would affirm the country’s global positioning as observed by the Fraser institute mining ranking which ranked Botswana number one in Africa when in the Policy Perception Index (PPI) which measured overall policy attractiveness in mining.

He said Botswana was number three in Africa in terms of Best Practices Mineral Potential Index (BPMPI) which rated countries based on their geologic attractiveness and government regulation.

In addition to emphasising Botswana’s position as an investment destination of choice, Mr Olebile stated that Botswana was ranked first in the Investment Attractive Index (IAI) which affirmed that Botswana would in the short to medium term continue to be very attractive to potential mining investments.

He said Botswana was still ranked by relevant indexes and studies as a bright spot in the continent in terms of Africa mining risk and reward, as it maintained first place out of 16 markets in the Sub Saharan Africa Mining Risk and Reward Index.“Botswana has particularly elevated in competitive landscape and mining regulations and is posed to be the region’s best performing country from an overall risk reward perspective followed by Namibia,” he said.

He nonetheless said a lot still needed to be done in attracting international mining companies to choose Botswana as their holding and administration centre.

“The country has relevant policies as well as international financial services centre with the potential to attract companies of a multinational stature,” he said.

For that, Mr Olebile said BITC had put up a very competitive incentives to position Botswana as mining investment destination of choice.

“A company that operates under the IFSC framework will be taxed at a discounted rate of 15 per cent as opposed to 22 per cent to none IFSC complying companies,” he said.

Mr Olebile added that BITC was on a client on-boarding exercise thus pleaded with international mining companies to register and accredited with BITC in order to be assisted through the Botswana one stop service centre. ENDS

Source : BOPA

Author : Thato Mosinyi

Location : GABORONE

Event : mining summit

Date : 13 Jun 2024