Kutlwano Magazine

Botswana eyes Black Diamonds

Source : Kutlwano

Author : Pako Lebanna

Location : Gaborone

Event : Interview

The post-independence mineral boom that transformed Botswana from one of the world’s poorest, least developed nations, into a middle income country was driven largely by a diamond sector that is now slowly reaching its lowest point. Botswana is now eyeing its vast coal reserves to maintain the generally impressive economic growth obtained since independence. Coined the “black diamond” by some, coal has proved to have the potential to further take Botswana’s impressive socio-economic transformation to the next level.

International intellectuals such as Martin Meredith, author of ‘The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence,’ who are critical of the corruption and mismanagement malaise that beset most post-colonial African states, often cites Botswana as a good example of a country that exploited its resources for the general development benefit of her population.

Building national consensus, taking collective and informed decisions assisted in this regard. This tradition was followed at the “Coal Roadmap Pitso.” This took place on the morning of Wednesday February 1 this year when various national and international stakeholders met at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC) to debate the building of a coherent coal industry that would further develop the country.

Giving a keynote address, President Lt Gen Seretse Khama Ian Khama noted that hitherto, Botswana was a country heavily reliant on what he called a “single and finite commodity, namely diamonds.”

Another problem observes noted was that during the diamond boom years it took long for the country to beneficiate the resource and benefit from downstream activities in that particular sector. The country is obviously trying to prevent such a scenario with coal.

“Just like diamonds, coal is a strategic mineral as it has various utilization options such as coal for export, electricity generation for domestic consumption and export, cement manufacturing, producing liquid fuels, production of LPG (liquefied natural gas), and production of nitrogen-based fertilizers,” said President Khama.

Botswana is endowed with vast coal resources of about 212 billion tones, which up to now have not been fully exploited.

Now the country attempts to not only profit from the resource in its raw form but, as President Khama highlighted, tap on to value addition downstream activities that could help generate further income.

Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources permanent secretary, Boikobo Paya, identified various fields that could be tapped into to ensure that Botswana benefits more from her coal.

Paya cited production of liquid fuels from coal using the Fischer Tropsch and methanol to gasoline processes, and production of gas from coal for power generation and diethy ether (DME) manufacture. He also stated that coal bed methane could be extracted from gassy coal seams for power generation and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, as well as producing nitrogen-based fertilizers from coal.

“We will be looking at exporting coal into the seaborne market, using coal to generate electricity for domestic consumption, as well as generating electricity for exports to other SADC countries,” said Paya.

The permanent secretary explained the reasoning for bringing together stakeholders to come up with a roadmap for coal, stating that the abundance of coal provided the country with a strategic resource which had to be leveraged on.

“The government of Botswana has a duty to create a vision for resource exploitation for the maximum benefit to the nation. However, the exploitation of these coal resources requires to be done in a sustainable manner with due regard to the economic, social and environmental factors,” stated Paya.

“Hence the government’s decision to develop a national strategy on coal development that will constitute a blueprint for the orderly, timely and beneficial exploitation of the coal resources,” he added.

He revealed that seaborne thermal coal exports were currently dominated by five countries (Indonesia, Australia, Russia, Colombia, and South Africa), adding that by 2020, the five countries would supply 90 per cent of the seaborne trade.

“The source of the remaining 10 per cent or about 100 million tonnes remains uncertain, it is unlikely that this 10 per cent will come from currently producing basins, meaning that new coal provinces (such as Botswana, Mozambique) will need to be developed,”

Thapelo Leareng, Transport Hub coordinator, highlighted that for Botswana to tap into this vast export potential, the country leased port land In Walvis Bay, Namibia and in Mozambique. Construction of railway lines that will connect Botswana’s coal producing belt with the two countries is being looked at.

Leareng said development of port and loading facilities at Walvis Bay would cost the country an estimated US$3.712 billion while developing a trans-Kalahari railway routing through Mariental would cost a further US$8.61 billion. The preferred Mmamabula-Gobabis-Walvis Bay route would cost a total of US$11.2 billion. “The government of Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe wish to construct a rail link terminating at an on-shore deep sea port at Ponta Techobanine in Mozambique. The project will be designed to cater for various types of cargo and heavy haul railway line linking the three countries,” said Leareng.

He further revealed that the Joint Ministerial Committee of the three countries met on January 13 this year to examine the proposed project and resolved that pre- feasibility study should be carried out on Ponta Techobanine Project, focusing on route alignment as well as its viability.

Given the diamond trade has been tainted with the ‘blood diamonds’ label which necessitated the Kimberly Process that gives ‘clean’ diamond producers such as Botswana a chance to exonerate themselves, coal is not without its international critics.

The negative impact of the coal industry on human lives and the ecology is something which environmental activists globally have been complaining about.

According to online sources, “Coal-fired power plant emissions are estimated to shorten nearly 24 000 lives a year in the United States, including 2 800 from lung cancer. In addition to deadly atmospheric pollution, coal burning produces hundreds of millions of tons of solid waste products annually.”

However, President Khama assured the GICC audience that Botswana realised that it was an international obligation for each country to strive to keep green house emissions low.

“It is pleasing to note that technology is available to reduce emissions from burning coal to produce energy. Botswana subscribes to best practice in the preservation of the environment and we expect those standards to be maintained if not exceeded in future developments of coal,” he said.