25 August 2026
Botswana has granted three new uranium prospecting licences to Orano Mining, adding to the 15 licences already held by the French state-owned company, as the southern African country seeks to diversify its economy beyond diamonds, official mining registry records show.
Uranium is primarily used as fuel for nuclear power plants. Botswana has significant uranium deposits and exploration projects, but does not have any operating uranium mines. Neighbouring Namibia is the third largest uranium producer by output.
Botswana, long regarded as an African success story, has been hit hard by a prolonged downturn in the global diamond market amid the growing popularity of lab-grown stones. The southern African country now seeks to develop its other mineral resources, including uranium and copper.
Botswana’s centralised mining licensing portal shows that Orano has been granted uranium and pitchblende prospecting licences for three blocks within the central Kalahari Desert, measuring about 970 hectares each.
The three-year licences expire in March 2029, the mining cadastre shows. Orano’s licences sit adjacent to 15 licences granted in October 2025 to its subsidiary, Compagnie Française de Mines et Métaux.
Records at Botswana’s official business registry portal, the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), show that Orano registered a local subsidiary on April 10 2026, a few days after President Duma Boko met with French President Emmanuel Macron and Orano officials in France on April 8.
“We are looking to speed up the process so that they can get to extraction. We can then get to developing nuclear reactors, generate power,” Boko said in May, without giving more details.
Orano’s search for uranium in Botswana comes after Niger’s military junta nationalised Orano’s 63.4%-owned SOMAIR uranium mine and revoked cooperation following a 2023 coup.
Niger accused Orano and France of exploitation and unfair practices, leading to the full nationalisation in June 2025 and Orano’s operational exit.
Source: https://shorturl.at/4VRJH
