Botswana’s first manganese mining operation has been given the government’s green light.

Reuters reports that Giyani Metals has won a 15-year mining licence for its Kgwakgwe Hill project near Kanye in southern Botswana, making it the country’s first producer of high-purity, battery-grade manganese and one of only a handful outside China.

A 2023 assessment indicated the mine will have an initial annual output of 80 000 tons of high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate over 57 years, almost half of which will be supplied to the electric vehicle industry, according to Mining.com.

A demonstration plant is already under construction in Johannesburg and is due for commissioning towards the end of this year, Canada-based Giyani Metals announced.

The project is being partly financed, to the tune of US$16 million, by the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa.

24 September
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