While mining industry employers association Botswana Chamber of Mines CEO Charles Siwawa believes Botswana’s diamond mining sector will re-emerge sometime in the future, he says it is important for the country to continue to diversify into the exploration for, and mining of, other minerals.

As a part of Botswana’s strategy to diversify beyond diamond mining, critical minerals such as copper, gold, graphite and iron-ore are on the radar, while Siwawa says the country has been seeking to engage Gulf nations to establish a plan that will grow other industries such as farming, tourism and energy.

In April 2026, Botswana President Duma Boko embarked on a three-day visit to the Sultanate of Oman to preside over the signing of bilateral cooperation deals with Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq.

As a result of signing three major cooperation deals, the exact financial value of which has not been publicly disclosed, the presidency has stated that Botswana’s mining and exploration sector has been secured.

This includes a joint mineral exploration deal between State-owned research and advisory organisation the Botswana Geoscience Institute and Omani State-owned exploration company Minerals Development Oman, under which Botswana will seek to increase mining exploration, targeting 70% of unexplored areas.

Siwawa notes, however, that when considering the geology of southern Africa, it is important to recognise that geological formations do not conform to political boundaries. Although there are similarities across Botswana, national borders naturally exclude areas that may form part of the same geological systems.

For example, Siwawa points to developments in south-western Botswana, where critical minerals exploration company Aterian worked on an iron-ore deposit near the Botswana-South Africa border. The deposit is believed to represent an extension of South Africa’s Kuruman iron-ore formation.

Similarly, a Botswanan entity is also working on another iron-ore deposit in the country’s central region, which Siwawa believes is an extension of the South Africa-originating Thabazimbi iron-ore deposit.

Additionally, Botswana-based explorers have discovered significant copper deposits, which geologists from both Zambia and Botswana have analysed, he says. Their findings suggest that the Kalahari Copper Belt and Zambia’s Copperbelt share important geological similarities.

In this regard, Siwawa says Botswana’s government has made inroads in assisting domestic explorers by commissioning an aeromagnetic survey, which made use of an airborne magnetometer to measure small changes in the Earth’s magnetic field to map out the geology in certain areas. This, Siwawa explains, helps exploration companies identify areas where they are more likely to find specific minerals, such as copper.