Electric vehicle wave triggers revival of Otse manganese mines :: Mmegi Online

Abandoned in the 1970s, the manganese deposits in Otse are set for a recovery that could lift economic activity in a village that has been living in Gaborone’s shadow. The global electric vehicle movement has reignited interest in the metal and one company hopes to build an economic ecosystem around Botswana’s manganese. Staff Writer, MBONGENI MGUNI reports

A year before the now famous discovery of the ‘three shiny stones’ in Motloutse River that eventually led to the explosion of diamond mining activities in the 1970s, a less high profile mineral had been found in the country’s south east.

Available records indicate that as early as 1957, the abundant presence of manganese in the area west of the Otse hills had not only been proven, but mining had actually taken place. Various mineral research articles indicate that manganese mining took place in Otse and at least two other sites in Botswana between 1957 and 1973, before activities were abandoned.

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