MMG breaks ground on $900m Khoemacau copper expansion in Botswana

Hong Kong-listed MMG held a groundbreaking ceremony in Maun, Botswana, on 9 February 2026 to launch a roughly $900 million expansion of its Khoemacau copper mine in the Kalahari Copperbelt, in the country's north-west. The expansion, approved by MMG's board in December 2025, will extend underground mining to the Zone 5 North, Mango and Zeta North-East deposits and add a new 4.5 million-tonne-a-year processing plant, lifting Khoemacau's total milling capacity to more than 8 million tonnes a year.

Scaling up an existing mine

Once complete, the expanded operation is targeted to produce about 130,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate a year, along with more than 4 million ounces of silver, up substantially from current output. MMG chief executive Ivo Zhao said the expansion "positions Khoemacau as a long-life, high-volume operation" and described the company's "partnership with Botswana" as central to the project. First copper concentrate from the expanded operation is expected in the first half of 2028.

Why it matters

Botswana's Kalahari Copperbelt has attracted growing interest as an emerging copper district beyond the traditional Central African copperbelt straddling Zambia and the DRC, and Khoemacau, already producing, gives MMG a lower-risk path to growth than a greenfield project. Equipment orders tied to the expansion, including major underground mining fleet contracts awarded to Sandvik and Epiroc during 2026, point to significant near-term procurement spending flowing into the local and regional supply chain, alongside skills-development programmes MMG has said are aimed at building a Batswana technical workforce.

What happens next

MMG has also flagged a pre-feasibility study for a potential second expansion phase that could lift Khoemacau's output toward 200,000 tonnes of copper a year, a decision that would follow well after the current expansion reaches production in 2028.

Sources

• MMG Limited: MMG breaks ground on Khoemacau expansion in Botswana, 09 Feb 2026
• Mining Review Africa: $900m Khoemacau expansion lifts Botswana's copper ambitions, 10 Feb 2026

Photo: Maun, Botswana, where the Khoemacau copper expansion was launched. Pavel Špindler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.