By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Botswana has awarded a 15-year mining licence to Giyani Metals, for the extraction and processing of manganese, the company announced on Wednesday, making it the country’s first battery-grade manganese producer.
Manganese is a key component in the manufacturing of batteries and its demand is expected to be driven by increase in electric vehicles (EVs) among other applications of clean energy in the country and its neighbours.
Giyani’s Kgwakwe Hill project is expected to process manganese oxide material on-site to produce high-purity manganese sulphate.
With this, it will become one of the few battery-grade manganese projects outside China, which controls 90% of global high-purity manganese supply.
According to a 2023 preliminary economic assessment, Kgwakwe Hill mine will have an initial annual output of 80,000 metric tons of high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate over a period of 57 years.
“The next step is production of battery-grade manganese from our demonstration plant, which is under construction in Johannesburg, South Africa,” the Canadian company said in a statement.
The company added that the product from the demonstration plant will be used for offtaker qualification, a vital step before offtake agreements can be signed.
Botswana is world’s biggest diamond producer by value. It heavily depends on the gems, which contribute 30% of its GDP and 70% of foreign exchange earnings.
Heritage Times HT reports that last month, the country unearthed 2,492-carat of diamond in one of its mining sites, precious stone described as the second-biggest ever mined from the country’s soil.
The country is hoping to diversify within the mining sector with minerals such as copper, nickel, coal and iron ore.
Apart from diamond mines, the country has two operating coal mines and three copper mines.
With the growing demand for clean energy across the globe, as a result of energy transition, an increase in the demand for battery metals such as manganese is expected to reduce the country’s dependence on revenue from diamond.
