The newly launched Geoscience Portal aims to attract investment, improve transparency and stimulate collaboration between government, industry and the public to advance understanding of the economic and social needs of the north-west district of the country.
Ngamiland – in the region - shows signs of becoming a significant producer of coal, copper, diamonds and other minerals, and has been prospected by several interested international companies in the past few years. However, the area is remote and lacking in infrastructure and development.
Tiyapo Hudson Ngwisanyi, chief executive officer of the Botswana Geoscience Institute says: "Making geoscientific data more accessible and transparent is critical to furthering understanding of the north-west district, and encouraging new investment in resource exploration within Africa. The portal is a welcome development that will assist us in promoting ongoing, productive collaboration between government and industry."
The data available includes airborne geophysics, ground geophysics and geochemistry. Future updates will provide access to borehole data, remote sensing, seismic surveys and information products including interpretations and 3D models.
Developed and hosted by Geosoft, the portal is a partnership initiative with the Botswana Geoscience Institute and industry sponsors and provides free, multidisciplinary datasets on the region.
"Geosoft is excited to be part of an initiative that demonstrates how government and industry can work together to encourage mineral exploration investment and thus downstream economic growth in the country.”
"We are continually engaging with government organisations like the Botswana Geoscience Institute and industry leaders to innovate, and maximise the value of geoscience data for resource discovery and to meet the socioeconomic needs of the broader public sector." concludes Tim Dobush, chief executive officer of Geosoft.
