[1] This sector contributes to 80 percent of foreign exchange earnings in Botswana, but is heavily influenced by global demand.
Largely due to increased costs, long term trends have shown a decline of mineral revenues especially in the diamond industry.
This has been attributed to subdued demand, falling prices, and growing competition in synthetic diamonds.
The MMGE is looking to diversify the mineral sector from its diamond dependency through increased mining of copper, nickel, silver, coal, manganese, soda ash, gold, semi-precious stones, and granite.
Additionally, there are untapped reserves of uranium, lead, and zinc that companies are seeking to exploit.