London-listed diamond miner Botswana Diamonds has changed its name to Botswana Minerals, to reflect the expanded strategy of the company.

“Botswana is a top location for exploration – geologically, politically and economically. Botswana Diamonds has historically focused on diamonds, where we hold highly prospective exploration ground. However, the diamond industry is currently out of favour with investors,” chairperson John Teeling explains.

“By applying AI analysis to our vast 95 000 km² Botswana geological database, our team identified strong copper prospectivity, a metal with a very robust future. We have secured eight copper-prone licences and work will commence shortly to define the best drill targets. There is strong interest in these new licences,” he adds.

The company holds high-quality exploration ground prospective for both copper and diamonds in Botswana.

In a corporate strategy update, the company indicates that the application of an advanced AI model to its 95 000 km² geological database (including 375 000 line kilometres of geophysics) has delivered “exceptional results” and led the board to expand the company’s strategic focus.

The initial focus of the AI analysis was on prospective diamond ground. This work delivered very good results, identifying additional highly prospective diamond areas.

The company now holds new diamond-prospective licences and has defined a number of drilling targets. Work programmes will continue across these licences to generate and refine further drill-ready targets.

The company points out that the global diamond industry is currently experiencing both technological change and a cyclical downturn.

While lab-grown diamonds are expected to dominate the lower end of the market, large, high quality natural diamonds which are rare are anticipated to remain in strong demand, it predicts.

Botswana is a producer of large, rare diamonds, reinforcing the strategic value of the company’s diamond portfolio, it posits.

Following the success of the diamond-focused AI work, the AI team confirmed that the model could be applied to identify prospectivity for other minerals.

The board approved this expanded approach.

The results were very good, with 11 copper target areas identified.

Applications were submitted for the most prospective areas and eight licences have been granted.

Copper has a strong long-term outlook, driven by its role in electrification and the global green energy transition. Botswana is rapidly emerging as a significant copper producer and remains an exploration-friendly jurisdiction, the company explains.

It now holds highly prospective copper ground, further validated by significant third-party interest in the newly granted licences.

A two-stage work programme has been developed to identify and prioritise drill targets across the copper portfolio.

Companies House processed the change of name to Botswana Minerals on February 24 and a certificate evidencing this has now been issued.