The figures released by Botswana’s  statistical office in the Index of the Physical Volume of Mining Production of – Third Quarter 2018 Stats Brief of the Statistics of Botswana publication, indicate that the mining production index  fell in Q3 2018.

“The Index of Mining Production stood at 87.1 during the third quarter of 2018, showing a year-on-year decrease of 4.2 percent from 91.0 during the third quarter of 2017,” Statistician General  Dr Burton S. Mguni stated in his introduction to the publication. “Comparison on quarter-on-quarter shows a decrease of 7.4 percent from the index of 94.0 realised during the second quarter of 2018 to 87.1 during the third quarter of the same year.”

While the Index covers various minerals – including gold, which has been mined in the country since the 19th century when Europeans first commenced the activity in Botswana -- produced in the country, diamond mining  is well known to be its most important  mining  activity currently. Hence, the fall in the diamond mining index is what has significantly impacted the overall mining index.

“Diamond production decreased by 4.8 percent during the third quarter of 2018, compared to the same quarter of the previous year,” the publication states. “The decline came as a result of planned strategy to reduce bulky production in order to align production with trading conditions. The quarter-on-quarter analysis reflects that diamond production declined by 8.4 percent during the third quarter of 2018 compared to the second quarter of the same year.”

Mining of minerals holds a special place in the economy of Botswana. “Since the early 1980s, the mining industry has been the largest contributor to real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), contributing between 20 and 50 percent,” the publication observed.

This sector has, quite naturally, had a major impact on the welfare of its peoples. “These mineral contributions enabled the Government to undertake investments in both human and physical infrastructure development over time,” the  publication concluded. “Even though the mining sector’s contribution to GDP has been below 25 percent since the 2009 recession, available data indicates that the sector still leads in terms of value added contribution to GDP, according to the quarterly GDP reports produced by Statistics Botswana.”