Botswana is becoming an increasingly important part of southern Africa’s copper story, as established producers expand existing operations and exploration companies test geological targets across the Kalahari Copper Belt and the country’s eastern mineral belts.
The shift is significant for an economy whose external position remains heavily influenced by diamonds. According to the International Monetary Fund, diamonds accounted for about two-thirds of Botswana’s exports in 2024, after representing roughly 80 per cent of exports between 2012 and 2023. More recent government trade data show that copper is already an important export commodity, although it remains considerably smaller than diamonds.
Copper is therefore not replacing diamonds in Botswana’s economy. Rather, the expansion of copper mining and exploration is part of a broader attempt to diversify the country’s mineral base and develop additional sources of export revenue, industrial activity and employment.
The geological case is centred partly on the Kalahari Copper Belt, which extends through Botswana and Namibia and forms part of the wider central and southern African copper system. Botswana already has operating copper production at Khoemacau and Motheo, while international and Australian-listed companies are committing additional capital to exploration.
MMG completed its acquisition of the Khoemacau copper mine in March 2024 at an effective enterprise value of US$1.875 billion. The transaction gave the Chinese-headquartered mining group control of the operation, although MMG subsequently established a joint venture in which it holds 55 per cent and CNIC Corporation holds 45 per cent.
Khoemacau is already a producing operation. MMG reported that it produced 42,120 tonnes of copper in concentrate in the period covered by its 2025 annual reporting, while the company is developing an expansion intended to lift annual production capacity to 130,000 tonnes. The expansion, which began construction in 2026, includes a new 4.5 million-tonne-a-year processing plant and development of additional mining areas, with first concentrate from the expansion expected in the first half of 2028.
The scale of the expansion is important beyond the individual mine. MMG’s original acquisition announcement described Khoemacau as part of a 4,040 square-kilometre tenement position within the Kalahari Copper Belt, with substantial copper and silver resources. Subsequent drilling has added further contained copper and silver to the resource base.
South African-listed and internationally active copper producer Sandfire Resources provides a second operating platform. Its Motheo mine, which entered production in 2023, has become another significant source of copper production in Botswana. Sandfire’s 2026 reporting and investor materials show continued development and exploration activity around Motheo, alongside the company’s wider exploration position in the Kalahari Copper Belt.
The emergence of these two production centres has also increased the geological and commercial interest in neighbouring exploration ground.
One of the most closely watched exploration arrangements involves Cobre Limited’s Kitlanya East and Kitlanya West projects. BHP has committed up to US$25 million, approximately A$40 million, to exploration and has the right to earn a 75 per cent interest in the projects. Work has included seismic surveys and diamond drilling aimed at identifying geological structures capable of hosting substantial copper-silver mineralisation.
The significance of such agreements extends beyond the individual companies. Large-scale exploration expenditure by multinational mining groups can provide a signal that geological targets in previously less intensively explored parts of the country are attracting greater attention. It does not, however, mean that commercial deposits have been established at each exploration project. Exploration results remain subject to drilling, laboratory assays, resource estimation, metallurgical testing, economic studies and permitting.
That distinction is particularly important in assessing Botswana’s emerging copper narrative.
Verity Resources, for example, has assembled a large exploration position in eastern Botswana’s Limpopo Mobile Belt. Its portfolio includes the Maibele North nickel-copper-PGE resource as well as the Airstrip and Dibete copper-silver prospects. The company reported a Maibele North resource of 2.4 million tonnes grading 0.72 per cent nickel and 0.21 per cent copper, alongside cobalt, platinum-group elements and gold.
Historical drilling at Airstrip has produced high-grade copper-silver intersections, including 11 metres at 7.63 per cent copper and 462 grams per tonne silver from 52 metres. Within that interval, Verity reports a three-metre section grading 22.74 per cent copper and 1,379 grams per tonne silver. At Dibete, historical drilling has also returned significant copper-silver intersections, including 6.15 metres at 7.20 per cent copper and 182 grams per tonne silver.
These figures should be understood in their proper exploration context. They are drill intercepts rather than estimates of the average grade or economic value of an entire deposit. Verity itself notes that some of the historical Airstrip results were reported under the JORC 2004 reporting code and have not been updated to JORC 2012 because the company considers there has been no material change in the information.
The company is undertaking further soil sampling, geophysical work and other exploration activities to determine whether the known mineralised zones extend across a broader system. The outcome of that work will be more consequential than isolated historical high-grade intersections because the commercial viability of a mining project depends on scale, continuity, metallurgy, infrastructure, operating costs and recoverable resources rather than headline grades alone.
Botswana’s established mining infrastructure is nevertheless an important consideration. The Selebi-Phikwe mining district, historically associated with nickel, copper and cobalt production, provides an example of infrastructure and mining expertise that could become relevant to future developments in the country’s eastern mineral belts.
The country’s broader mining policy environment is also attracting attention. The Fraser Institute’s 2025 Annual Survey of Mining Companies placed Botswana seventh among 68 jurisdictions in its Investment Attractiveness Index, the highest-ranked African jurisdiction in that year’s overall index. The index combines perceptions of mineral potential with policy-related considerations.
The ranking should not be treated as a guarantee of investment success. The Fraser Institute survey is based on responses from mining executives and investors and measures perceptions rather than the geological or financial performance of individual projects. Nevertheless, it provides an indication of how Botswana’s regulatory and investment environment is viewed by part of the international mining community.
The country’s position within southern Africa also matters. Botswana is land-linked to South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia and participates in both the Southern African Customs Union and the Southern African Development Community. Its location gives mineral projects potential access to regional transport and export corridors, although logistics remain a consideration for a landlocked producer.
Copper’s rise also needs to be considered against the wider African market rather than through a Botswana-only lens.
The Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia remain central to the continent’s copper industry, while Namibia is attracting renewed exploration activity along geological structures connected to the broader southern African copper system. The result is a regional copper landscape in which Botswana’s opportunity is partly defined by its proximity to established producers and geological belts across national borders.
Namibia has recently provided an illustration of how early exploration results can draw market attention. Kaoko Metals reported in September 2026 that its first two drill holes at the Chalkos project intersected broad zones containing visible copper minerals. The company stressed that the observations were preliminary and that laboratory assays were still pending. It specifically cautioned that visual estimates of mineral abundance should not be used to calculate copper grades and that the presence of copper minerals does not by itself establish economic mineralisation.
That caution is relevant to Botswana as well. Exploration companies can generate substantial market interest before a mineral discovery has been demonstrated to be economically viable. For Botswana, the more important question is therefore not simply whether copper occurs across additional areas of the country, but whether exploration can establish deposits large and continuous enough to support competitive mines and whether those projects can translate geological potential into domestic economic value.
This is particularly relevant as Botswana considers how to reduce its exposure to fluctuations in the diamond market. The IMF has highlighted the country’s continued concentration in diamonds and the associated vulnerability to changes in global demand and prices. At the same time, Botswana’s recent trade statistics demonstrate that copper is already contributing materially to exports, with copper among the major commodities shipped to Asian markets.
The next phase of Botswana’s copper story will therefore be measured less by the number of exploration licences issued than by what happens after discovery: whether resources are defined, projects receive investment, infrastructure is developed, local capabilities expand and more of the value generated by mineral production remains within Botswana and the wider southern African economy.
For Botswana, copper offers an opportunity to broaden an economy historically shaped by diamonds. For southern Africa, the country’s expanding exploration activity adds another jurisdiction to a regional copper landscape that already includes some of the world’s most important producing areas.
The emerging picture is consequently not one of a new copper giant displacing Botswana’s diamond industry, but of a mineral economy becoming more diverse. Whether that diversification becomes durable will depend on geology, commodity markets, infrastructure, regulation and, ultimately, how effectively mineral wealth is converted into broader economic value for Botswana and its citizens.
