Uranium poised to trigger scramble

For decades, Botswana has been renowned for its premier position in the production of high value diamonds, the country's economic backbone. The country has also enjoyed the international spotlight for its massive coal reserves which are conservatively estimated at more than two hundred billion tonnes.However, an unglamorous and previously unexploited mineral is expected to trigger a stampede among investors and mining companies eager to leverage on its rising status as a cash commodity.

Uranium, chiefly used in nuclear power generation, has for decades been viewed negatively as it can also be enriched and used for nuclear weapons, the fear of which drove the Cold War of the 1940s to 1990s.