Botswana Minerals has positioned itself as a data-led, multi-commodity explorer, placing copper at the centre of its growth strategy while retaining diamond assets for future upside, Managing Director James Campbell has told Rough & Polished.
In an exclusive interview following the company's rebrand from Botswana Diamonds, Campbell outlined a strategic shift driven by AI analysis of the company's 95,000 square kilometre Botswana database, which identified 11 copper targets and led to the grant of eight prospecting licences.
He said copper offers the clearest near- to medium-term route to shareholder value creation as it is where commodity demand, strategic relevance and current operational focus are most closely aligned.
Botswana Minerals is now advancing a phased exploration programme designed to turn regional prospectivity into drill-ready targets, while actively pursuing joint venture partners to share the cost of development.
On diamonds, Campbell acknowledged near-term market pressures from lab-grown stones but said the long-term outlook for natural diamonds remains distinct.
He said the near-term market remains difficult, but does not believe the long-term future of natural diamonds will disappear due to the serious competition from the laboratory-grown stones.
Below are excerpts from the interview.
What prompted the decision to rebrand from Botswana Diamonds to Botswana Minerals at this particular juncture?
The decision was driven by strategy, not cosmetics. Over the past two years, our use of AI and large legacy datasets has materially widened the opportunity set beyond diamonds and into copper and other polymetals, while the market context has also changed markedly. Once that broader mineral potential became real rather than theoretical, it was important that the company’s name accurately reflected both the asset base and the direction of travel. Botswana Minerals better describes the business we are now building: still rooted in Botswana, still data-led, but no longer confined to a single commodity.
Does the rebranding signal a diminished strategic priority for the company’s diamond assets, or do they remain central to the long-term vision?
The diamond assets remain important, but they are no longer the sole lens through which the business is viewed. We have been careful to retain meaningful diamond optionality, including KX36, additional AI-generated kimberlite targets, Maibwe exposure, and Thorny River, while recognising that the current market suggests a more measured spend profile. So the shift is one of emphasis rather than abandonment. Copper is the present operating priority, but diamonds remain a core part of the portfolio and an important source of future upside if market conditions improve.
How do you balance preserving the diamond portfolio while allocating capital to copper exploration in the current market environment?
The balance comes from disciplined capital allocation. We are preserving the diamond portfolio where the geological quality and optionality justify it, but directing fresh capital towards copper because market demand, strategic relevance, and exploration momentum are currently more supportive there. Equally important, our intention is not to carry all of the cost of advancement on our own balance sheet. We are using phased technical work to reduce risk, sharpen targets and position the best opportunities for joint ventures or farm-ins, thereby preserving upside while limiting dilution.
What is your assessment of the long-term demand outlook for natural diamonds given sustained competition from laboratory-grown stones?
The near-term market remains difficult, and it is important to be candid about that. Competition from laboratory-grown stones, softer conditions in parts of the pipeline, and uneven consumer demand have all created pressure. That said, I do not believe the long-term future of natural diamonds will disappear simply because laboratory-grown stones have established a place in the market. What is happening, in my view, is a clearer differentiation between two very different products. De Beers has reported resilient retail demand for natural diamonds in higher-end categories in the US, robust demand in India, and continued expectation that natural and laboratory-grown diamonds will separate more clearly over time, even if that process has taken longer than hoped. It also noted that wholesale prices for laboratory-grown products have fallen sharply, reinforcing the distinction between rarity-based luxury and manufactured products.
Can you describe how the company’s AI model works and what makes its 95,000 square kilometre geological database uniquely valuable?
The key point is that the system is designed to be explainable, not opaque. It combines geological knowledge models with machine learning to clean, integrate and reinterpret large volumes of legacy and current data, then ranks targets on a geologically intelligible basis. That matters because exploration decisions still need to be grounded in geological reasoning, particularly when capital is scarce. The database itself is a significant competitive advantage for a junior explorer: it covers about 95,000 square kilometres of Botswana and includes airborne and ground geophysics, soil sampling and drill records. In practical terms, that allows us to rework old information into a new opportunity at relatively low incremental cost.
The AI platform identified 11 copper targets, leading to the grant of eight licences. What is the next technical phase, and how does AI continue to add value beyond target generation?
The next phase is to turn regional prospectivity into drill-ready targets. In the current Phase 1 programme, we are integrating additional historical, regional, satellite, and geophysical datasets to refine prospectivity mapping, more tightly rank targets, eliminate lower-priority ground, and define the right survey grids and methods for Phase 2 fieldwork. AI, therefore, continues to add value well beyond the first pass. It improves target ranking, helps determine where field capital should be spent, and increases confidence before the company commits to more expensive follow-up work and drilling.
Is the AI technology proprietary to Botswana Minerals, and could it become an independent source of value or revenue for the company?
The platform itself is being deployed through Planetary AI's Xplore system rather than being a stand-alone in-house software product. Our competitive advantage lies in the combination of that technology with a company-owned Botswana dataset, our own geological understanding and our ability to convert ranked targets into commercial exploration decisions. Over time, one can see broader value emerging from that capability, particularly if it is extended across additional African datasets, but for now, the principal source of value remains improved exploration outcomes rather than software monetisation in isolation.
What specific milestones can shareholders anticipate for the copper exploration programme over the next 12 to 18 months?
Shareholders should look for a sequence of practical milestones rather than a single event. These include a tighter ranking of the licence package, definition of geophysical priorities, focused field programmes, geochemical and geophysical results, narrowing of the portfolio to a smaller number of higher-conviction targets, and the emergence of drill-ready prospects. In parallel, progress on partner discussions will matter because the objective is not merely to generate targets but to move the strongest of them towards drilling in a commercially disciplined way.
What characteristics would an ideal joint venture partner bring to the company’s copper licences?
The ideal partner would bring capital, technical competence and execution discipline. This is concealed-terrain exploration under thin cover, so the right partner is one that understands staged target development and is prepared to fund systematic work rather than seek premature conclusions. Just as important is alignment. We would want a partner that respects the technical process, moves efficiently, and understands that the purpose of a joint venture is to accelerate value creation while managing risk and dilution sensibly.
Looking ahead, which element of the company’s repositioning offers the greatest potential for shareholder value creation: copper, diamonds, or the AI capability itself?
At this stage, copper offers the clearest near- to medium-term route to shareholder value creation because it is where commodity demand, strategic relevance and current operational focus are most closely aligned. Diamonds retain important optionality and could become more valuable again as the natural diamond market normalises and differentiation from laboratory-grown product becomes clearer. The AI capability is fundamental, but principally as an enabling advantage: it improves target quality, capital efficiency and partner appeal. So, in simple terms, AI is the engine, diamonds are preserved upside [down], but copper is currently the most direct path to value creation.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor-In-Chief, Rough & Polished
