Forum to discuss monetisation of coal, iron ore
Isaac Pinielo | Wednesday January 7, 2015 14:18
The conference, dubbed ‘Coal and Iron Ore Botswana 2015’, will be held in March at the Gaborone International Convention Centre.
Botswana continues on its journey to diversify its mining sector by implementing economic diversification strategies to reduce its dependence on diamond income. Conference director, Vanessa Leyka reiterated that with a committed government, the country is now on the path to monetise the large coal and iron ore reserves with the goal of becoming one of the leading exporters to the global market and a regional power hub.
In addition to actively working on creating the infrastructure to export these resources, she noted that the country is also considering alternative technologies and methods such as coal to power, coal to liquid, and coal to gas as well as exploring iron ore for domestic consumption.
“While there are a number of challenges for implementing these initiatives, the benefits of overcoming these hurdles will be extremely lucrative over the long term,” said Leyka.
Botswana has considerable coal deposits, one of the largest untapped potential reserves in the world at over 212 billion tonnes. It has been estimated that as much as two thirds of Africa’s coal resource is found in Botswana.
Recently, mineral explorers discovered what they believe to be significant deposits of iron ore in the country. It is understood that the discovery was a huge belt in the region, which could run into billions of tonnes in terms of resource.
The keynote speaker at the conference will be the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Kitso Mokaila.
Leyka added that the conference would bring together the market’s biggest players and provide unrivalled networking opportunities with senior executives from across the international mining sector.
Dominating the agenda, among others, will be topics on diversifying the mining industry in Botswana, getting coal to market, laying the right foundations and increasing efficiency, Botswana’s positioning in the global thermal coal market.