Most mining contracts in Africa were negotiated in the 1980s and 1990s, when low world prices and high political risks discouraged foreign investments in the continent’s mining sector, observes Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana, a country widely regarded as one of Africa’s most successful mineral exporters. Consequently, many countries earned very little from such contracts, and there is a broader push to renegotiate contracts across the continent. However, it is equally important to highlight good practices from companies such as Cobre Ltd., an Australian listed company. This can set a good precedent for mining companies and allow better public-private partnerships to underpin the sector’s development. Cobre focuses its activities on the Kalahari Copper Belt. 

Botswana- Kalahari Belt to Support High-Grade Copper Production at Cobre

• The KCB is regarded as one of the world’s most prospective areas for yet-to-be-discovered sediment-hosted copper deposits by the US Geological Survey and is emerging as a new copper production belt

• Botswana ranks in the top 10 countries globally for mining investment attractiveness by Fraser Institute 2022.

• Advances in geological understanding and geophysical technology have yielded an exponential increase in exploration success.

• Giant Deposits – 1/3 of known sediment-hosted copper deposits contain 500,000t of contained copper with grades >1%

• Excellent infrastructure, well-developed road networks, and ongoing multi-million-dollar projects, including the North-west Transmission Grid Connection (NWTGC), aimed at providing power supply to new KCB mines

• 100%-ownership of highly prospective copper and silver exploration tenements in the Kalahari Copper Belt (KCB).  

• • Second largest tenement package in the KCB consists of four project areas: Ngami Copper Project (727 km2 ), Kitlanya East (1,359 km2 ), Kitlanya West (1,900 km2), and Okavango (1,362 km2). 

• Along strike, and adjacent to, producing mining operations: Cupric Canyon’s high-grade Zone 5 Cu-Ag deposit and Sandfire’s (ASX: SFR) T3 Motheo Cu-Ag Production Hub.

Through its strategic global copper landscape, Cobre has been able to expedite development possibilities in Botswana through the Ngami Copper Project and showcase copper development opportunities through the Kitlanya West Projects. In the meantime, the in-situ copper discovery points to the possibility of upgrading significant resources, and Botswana, the Tier-1 mining jurisdiction, is among the top ten countries in the world for mining investment attractiveness. 

Three Reasons why Cobre is good for Botswana

1. Cobre can facilitate Botswana's industrialization and inclusion in higher value-added global chains: The mining code states that the government can buy a stake in mining projects if it wishes to do so, thereby accelerating the pace of industrialization. Cobre Ltd. (ASX: CBE) can enable the government to access skilled labour and environmentally friendly methods if it takes a stake in a mining project. This can allow the government to accelerate the transformation of copper into intermediate products, accelerate the creation of value chains that will benefit the Botswana people, and enable the private sector to play a more active role in global value chains. 
2. Human Capital Development: Staff training is 200% tax deductible in Botswana, creating the right conditions to train young mining professionals. Cobre can improve mining know-how and allow a new generation of mining professionals to emerge with knowledge of novel in-situ methods. The World Bank finds that a child born in Botswana will be 41% as productive when she grows up as she could be if she enjoyed complete education and full health.
3. Environmentally Friendly Methods Seta  Good Precedent: In situ, recovery mines use fluid to recover minerals from the ground without digging and moving tonnes of earth, as in an underground mine. It is environmentally friendly, uses fewer resources, and does not disrupt the surrounding ecosystem materially, freeing up land that can be used for agriculture. This sets a good precedent for other companies and can lead to a better environment for the people residing in Botswana. 

Promoting Development

Africa has already seen cycles of high and low prices for metals and oil. In the past, even in prosperous times, populations remained impoverished and economies lacked diversity due to bad contracts, poor management, corruption, and misallocation of windfall revenues. Experts predict that better planning for the use of revenues, increased transparency, and stronger collaborations between businesses, governments, and communities will all be necessary to turn this around. Australian conglomerate Metal Mass, Canadian-owned Société d’exploitation minière d’Afrique de l’Ouest (Semafo), and UK-based Cluff Mining are just a few of the gold-mining firms actively working to improve Burkina Faso’s ability to distribute natural resource revenues to its people.

However, fiscal and/or cash transfers are not a long-term solution to poverty. African youths must be rained on, and its mineral resources must be seen as an opportunity to integrate global value chains. Cobre provides a model for environmentally friendly mining companies that recognise the need to approach mining sustainably. 

These kinds suggest that Africa will play an indispensable role in global metal markets if given the opportunity.  Abdoulaye Bio-Tchane, former president of the West Africa Development Bank and a former head of the International Monetary Fund's Africa division, said that resource-rich nations save more than they did in the past. As a result, African governments like Botswana understand the need to create supportive environments for mining companies, which suggests that Cobre will continue to operate in a stable and supportive country. This provides greater certainty to shareholder value, more so than in other countries. 

says that resource-rich nations have been saving a lot more than in previous episodes and have been scaling up their expenditures on social services and infrastructure. "Africa has been coping remarkably well this time around, in contrast to earlier commodity booms."