Botswana is moving closer to establishing a major industrial hub for the region’s battery-minerals economy after Kemcore secured environmental clearance for a planned $140 million mining chemicals manufacturing facility.
The approval removes a key regulatory hurdle for the project, which is now progressing towards financing and construction. Kemcore plans to supply specialised processing chemicals to copper and cobalt mines in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The company says the development will become Southern Africa’s first integrated battery-minerals chemical complex, potentially giving Botswana a larger role in the supply chain supporting the region’s rapidly expanding critical-minerals industry.
Plant to form part of Botswana industrial hub
The facility will be built within Botala Energy’s planned Leupane Energy Hub and Industrial Park in central Botswana.
The location is intended to provide access to several important raw materials and energy resources required by the chemical manufacturing operation.
Kemcore plans to produce mining reagents including sodium metabisulphite, sodium hydrosulphide and sodium isobutyl xanthate, which are used in mineral-processing operations.
The project is expected to be developed in phases, with total investment projected to reach approximately $140 million.
Once fully operational, the plant is expected to have annual production capacity of about 150,000 metric tons of battery-mineral processing reagents.
Energy could become another pillar of the hub
The wider Leupane development is also being positioned as an energy and industrial centre.
Botala Energy is developing plans for as much as 700MW of hybrid gas and solar power generation at the industrial hub.
Kemcore is also in advanced discussions to secure gas from Botala Energy’s coal-bed methane project, potentially providing an important local energy and feedstock source for the manufacturing operation.
Other raw materials, including soda ash and salt, are expected to be sourced from the Botash mine, approximately 300 kilometres northeast of the planned facility.
Construction targeted for 2027
Kemcore is targeting financial close by December 2026, with construction scheduled to begin during 2027.
Initial production is expected in the first half of 2028, subject to the project’s financing and construction schedule.
Kemcore founder and Chief Commercial Officer Calisto Radithipa described the environmental approval as an important milestone as the company moves towards the next stage of development.
The company is reportedly in advanced discussions with regional and local funders interested in gaining exposure to the growing critical-minerals economy without directly investing in mining operations.
Botswana seeks a bigger role in the battery-minerals supply chain
The proposed facility comes as demand for copper and cobalt continues to drive investment across Southern Africa.
Zambia and the DRC are major producers of copper and cobalt, while Botswana is seeking to strengthen its position as an industrial and logistics base supporting the wider minerals economy.
Rather than exporting raw materials alone, projects such as Kemcore’s proposed plant could allow more processing-related value to be retained within the region by manufacturing the chemicals required by mining operations closer to their end markets.
If the planned investment proceeds on schedule, Botswana could therefore emerge as an important supplier of specialised mining chemicals to some of Southern Africa’s most significant copper and cobalt-producing regions.
A strategic industrial project for Botswana
The Kemcore development is part of a broader push to establish new industrial capacity around Botswana’s natural resources, energy potential and regional connectivity.
Its proposed integration with the Leupane Energy Hub could be particularly significant, bringing together energy generation, chemical manufacturing and mineral-processing supply chains in one industrial development.
With financial close targeted for the end of 2026 and construction planned for 2027, the next major test will be whether the project can translate its environmental approval and funding discussions into construction and, ultimately, commercial production.
