Elsewhere in the South:
“FRENCH company Orano is turning
to Botswana for uranium after losing
access to the mineral in Niger after the
2023 coup and its fallout with the ruling
junta. The company forfeited uranium
assets worth an estimated $270-million.
Orano Botswana, registered on 10
April, has been awarded exploration
licenses and has begun aerial surveying
and ground sampling in the Kalahari
region around Gantsi in the country’s
southwest.
Botswana holds some of the world’s
largest undeveloped uranium reserves,
estimated at over 800,000 tonnes, worth
$300-million, and wants to diversify its
mining sector beyond diamonds.
In Botswana, Orano could face stricter
requirements than in Niger. Mining rules
in Botswana require that raw materials
be processed domestically to build local
industries and create jobs, rather than
exporting unprocessed minerals abroad.
PHOTO: LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP
What’s mine: Presidents Duma Boko (left) and
Emmanuel Macron struck a deal on uranium.
At the recent France-Africa summit in
Kenya, Botswana’s President Duma Boko
reaffirmed his commitment to these
policies, saying French investment in
the country’s uranium sector is welcome
“on condition it adopts Botswana’s local-
beneficiation policy as part of a broader
mining-sovereignty plan”.
But local labour leaders say Gaborone
will need to go further than rhetoric
and policy on paper. “The policies are
abstract and do not necessarily translate
to wealth creation for the nation or
direct equity for workers in the mining
sector and mining communities,” said
Mbiganyi Gaekgotswe, secretary-general
of the Botswana Mine Workers’ Union.
About four Australian and Canadian
companies are already operating in
Botswana’s uranium-mining sector,
including Australia’s Lotus Resources. It
was recently awarded a 22-year licence to
mine an estimated 113-million pounds
of uranium.
(Source: on page 7 of The Continent Issue 240, 23May26. https://6555a27a-21bd-45eb-b287-1c28900211e3.filesusr.com/ugd/73a7e6_8b739818dd994e1b91a8849842749f33.pdf )

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#BeneficationPolicy #MiningSovereignty

Protect the South Dakota Black Hills from toxic uranium mining.
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