Botswana plans to ramp up mining exploration, including for critical minerals, as it seeks to diversify beyond diamonds by surveying the roughly 70% of its territory that remains unexplored, mines minister Bogolo Joy Kenewendo said on Tuesday.

The Southern African country, long viewed as an African success story, has been hit hard by a prolonged downturn in the global diamond market, driven by economic uncertainty and the growing popularity of lab-grown stones.

Diamonds typically account for about one-third of Botswana's national revenue and three-quarters of its foreign exchange earnings.

US INTEREST

While diamonds will the backbone of the mining sector, Kenewendo said the government was pushing ahead with its plans to widen the mineral base, including into critical minerals.

She said a newly launched state-owned exploration company would focus on raising exploration levels.

"We were doing more exploration looking for diamonds than looking for other high-value minerals. And now we're going to change that," Kenewendo told Reuters on the sidelines of an African mining conference in Cape Town. "If you've only explored 30% of your country, it really just shows our strong focus on diamonds."

"There's a little hesitation from investors to go into exploration. You can lose a lot of money by exploring and not hitting anything," she added. "We want to ensure that we have the right data, we know what's where, so that we can also decide if we want to be investors in that space."

Botswana is the world's top diamond producer by value and an emerging copper-mining hotspot.

Interest in critical minerals, such as those used in advanced manufacturing, has grown as the world's two biggest economies, the US and China, compete for resources like copper and cobalt.

Kenewendo said the US had expressed interest in partnering with Botswana in exploration and mining, but discussions were at an early stage.

"We will see how that goes," she said. "We're just engaging in general investments in the mineral space."