End of an era in gold mining

This week, a local gold mine changed hands in faraway Toronto, Canada. Further accentuating the paradox, the deal marked the end of a largely lacklustre era of gold mining in Botswana, an age historians have tracked to 15th Century medieval efforts in the Francistown area.

Prior to the discovery of diamonds in 1967, early mineral explorers in Botswana were primarily lured to the country by the prospect of gold in and around the Francistown area, which reached "gold rush" proportions in 1866, albeit at limited levels of extraction.