Africa-Press – Botswana. The amendment aims to balance foreign investment with domestic empowerment, thus positioning local stakeholders as key players in the country’s mining future.
Botswana will amend the Mines and Minerals Act (2024) to bolster local ownership and participation in the country’s mining industry, the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Bogolo Kenewendo, has confirmed.
Central to these reforms is a commitment to ensuring that Batswana are more actively involved in both ownership structures and supply chain activities.
Originally enacted in 1999, the Act was amended in 2024 to strengthen local participation in Botswana’s mining sector.
Philosophy of the new government
The 2024 amendment mandates that a 24% stake in mining ventures be sold to citizens under special conditions, ensuring that Batswana benefit directly from the country’s mineral wealth.
The latest reforms are aimed at aligning with the philosophy of the new government.
Speaking at the Local Manufacturing Summit in Gaborone last week, Minister Kenewendo emphasised that the proposed reforms are designed to ensure that Batswana take a more substantial role in the development of their country’s mining industry.
Historical barriers
“We wish to facilitate the speedy transformation from exploration to productive mining and the associated activities, both in the supply chain and in the value chain, and to stimulate participation in the mining sector, both in ownership and in supply,” she said.
Kenewendo emphasised that the government aims to retain a greater share of resource wealth within the country. She was adamant that the bold move will break down historical barriers that excluded Batswana from high value mineral deals and investments.
This, she added, will promote inclusive growth by allowing citizens to actively benefit from the country’s most lucrative sector.
From raw to processing
Industry experts believe that by seeking greater influence in its mining industry, Botswana will be a position to end an era of earning economic value through diamonds in raw form, thus limiting local job creation, industrialisation and entrepreneurship.
Reducing dependence on raw exports is also viewed as a form of protection from commodity price shocks in an unpredictable market.
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