16 Dec 2025

Construction of a commercial plant for the production of manganese oxide adjacent to Kgwakgwe Hill in Kanye is projected to take off in 2026.
According to Giyani Metals Country manager Ms Elisa Modikwa during a brief to Kanye District Full council recently, offtake, financing agreements, and project funding will take place in 2026.
In the event that everything aligns, the construction of the commercial plant will follow and thereafter the ramping up to production in 2028 with full production in 2029 to 2030.
Ms Modikwa indicated that the milestones to achieve at Giyani Metals in 2025 is the completion of definitive feasibility study (DFS), which is a long and rigorous process as the study is in line with the Canadian standards. As a listed company Giyani Metals is expected to produce all documents in accordance with the standards.
Giyani Metals will produce two products MnO (High Grade Kgwakgwe Hill Manganese Oxide) and HPMSM (High Purity Manganese Sulphate Monohydrate) used in EV batteries.
Currently in parallel with the work that they are doing in Botswana, technical team is doing a definitive feasibility study which is an update of the 2022 feasibility study to make it current to the costs and is earmarked to be completed in quarter one of 2026.
 The definitive feasibility study will give the final capex of the project which is what a lot of investors are waiting for in order for them to see where they can participate and make final investment decision, Ms Modikwa said.
In supporting the definitive feasibility study, the team, she said, has been supporting site visits through engineering, environmental and geotechnical companies, which is to update the costs to the current market.
As the project transition towards commercial development, the focus will be project financing which will come after conclusion of the DFS in 2026, “the feasibility study will inform the final number that investors have been waiting for,” she said.
The company has been granted a mining licence for a period of 15 years in 2024 and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment was granted in 2023.
The K-Hill ore and K-Hill project which is an open pit mine supports a 57-year-old mine life. The company has started procurement for fencing and beaconing and have identified two successful local bidders, one bidder will be doing construction of the fence and the other beaconing.
Execution of the work is expected in 2026, when we will be finalising contractual agreements with contractors in the new year, that is when they will start construction, Ms Modikwa said.
She further said the preliminary design of the mine’s water project is completed, waiting approval by Water Utilities Corporation, citing they also engaged Botswana Power Corporation, finalising the route, power line submission and all the engineering designs.

In parallel the company has also been doing the Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA) covering various issues such as water systems and power lines as they will traverse houses and farms, emphasising the significance of conducting EIA on the corridors.
 One of the key component for the success of their project, she said, is the construction of the demonstration plant in Johannesburg, South Africa which its objective is to de-risk the project by providing confidence to the off-takers.
The whole objective of the demonstration plant is to de-risk the project, as it is crucial to construct a prototype of the commercial plant to fully understand hydro-metallurgical process.
Ms Modikwa said they have successfully produced the two products HPMO and HPMSM and sent them out to market for testing.
The EV battery market she noted, was very sensitive, “the off-takers before any agreements can be signed, they want to take the products through rigorous qualification processes,” she said.
“There is one company in the USA that has managed to surpass stage one of their qualification test,” she said, noting that they normally undergo four stages, to ensure that batteries are sustainable once they go to the market.
The demo plant and products that are being produced will provide confidence to the off-takers to sign offtake agreements with Giyani, “So next year will be a very big year for us,” she emphasised.
Ms Modikwa indicated that the project is currently at the stage of site preparation, conducting infrastructure approvals and environmental monitoring.
With regards to licence to operate, Ms Modikwa told councillors that the company has to comply with all the regulatory approvals, environmental assessment Act, infrastructural approvals, adding that they were also working on WUC reservoir relocation, as it is sitting on top of the deposits.
Giyani Metals is also conducting needs assessment survey through consultations with the Village Development Committees’ and leadership. The aim is to enquire about the projects that can sustain the community in Kanye and support existing projects.
She acknowledged that the project faced some site challenges and the company is working on addressing them, indicating that procurement for installation of warning and information signage’s is already under way.
Construction readiness planning, pre engineering work, work force scaling for local hiring will start in 2026. The project will create employment opportunities during construction and operation phase for direct and indirect jobs, as well as business opportunities such as, security, catering and transport.
The project is a single factory zone development, and licensed by SEZA as a manufacturing entity.
Councillor Oagile Keagile of Kgwakgwe ward expressed concern about the company’s position on local procurement and empowerment as well as relocation of farmers in the area.
Councillor Tebogo Thebeyame of Lodubeng also expressed concern and was of the view that the demo plant in Johannesburg has economic benefit to South Africans. He requested Ms Modikwa to explain how they account for the value of material they extracted at Kgwakgwe Hill in Kanye, urging them to uphold transparency.
In response, Ms Modikwa stated that as a company they take local empowerment seriously. Batswana are very experienced in mining, but for material engineering on processing manganese there is a skill that lacks in Botswana, and there is need to upskill, she revealed.
The mining licence and Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA) application requires the company to create and demonstrate the strategy of how those roles will transition to Botswana.
With regards to staff complement, she said they were looking at 300 to 350 direct jobs during construction, adding that once the plant is operational the number will go down as the plant is highly mechanised and will range from 150 to 200 jobs.
Majority of employees will start of as foreigners because of the lack of skills in metallurgical processing of manganese oxide but there will be transition of jobs to Batswana.
She explained that a demo plant has been set up in Johannesburg because they needed a facility that could be constructed quickly, citing that Batswana have no experience on manganese, indicating that there are companies that are fully capacitated in Johannesburg.
The demo plant is owned by Menzi Battery Metals which is a local company and also a subsidiary of Giyani Metals.
She said a visit to the plant for local leadership and businesses has been arranged in February 2026 for investors and banks, citing they had initially invited the Ministry of Minerals and Energy as well as Department of Mines to the Demo plant but were incapacitated due to lack of funding.
The project is viable and the product is highly valuable according to results from 10 tonnes of ore taken to South Africa for testing, she told councillors.

She said they were considering to convert the demo plant in to a training facility once the commercial plant is operational.

Further Ms Modikwa stated that according to tribal land act, the mine is not obligated to compensate people who illegally settled at Kgwakgwe Hill, but as a listed company they had to comply with international standards, by ensuring they compensate them by re-building the houses they had at an identified location.

She said they have identified 13-14 dwellers at the site, and land board has assisted them to identify where they could be relocated citing that they will also be assisted with transportation to relocate.
Giyani has seven concessions in total and are all manganese with Kgwakgwe Hill being the most advanced, indicating that Otse was the next in line, saying they have Mogobane, Ramotswa and Lobatse among others. ENDS