One of the world's largest game parks located in Botswana may soon host mining activities, officials said Saturday, after the government granted exploration licences to 14 foreign firms.

The 112 licences were awarded over the past six years for companies to do diamond, uranium, coal and base metals exploration in the Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve (CKGR) in central Botswana.

Besides wildlife, Botswana's largest game park of 52,800 square kilometres (32,800 square miles) has also been home for thousands of years to people known as the Kalahari Bushmen.

According to Wildlife Minister Kitso Mokaila, the reserve's vast size — equivalent to Swaziland and Lesotho combined — justified allocating part of it to foreign mining companies.

"Why would I want to deny a country that started off as the 26th least developed country the opportunity to do mining? We all know what mining activities have done for this country. We are where we are right now because of mining," Mokaila told AFP.

"It has always been the policy of the government of Botswana that where there are minerals, they will be mined," Mokaila said.

"Botswana has been built on the strength of mining. It will be a very good thing" to mine in the park, he said.

Botswana is the world's largest producer of diamonds by value and by volume.

Rough diamonds are Botswana's largest industry, contributing 50 percent of public revenue, 33 percent of gross domestic product and 70 percent of foreign exchange earnings.

The 14 companies granted exploration licences are yet to apply for mining permits, the minister said.

"I do not expect all of the 14 to start mining there," he added.

The reserve, also known as the Central Kalahari Park, is home to animals such as lion, cheetah, leopard, hyena, wild dog, aardwolf, caracal, jackal, polecat, fox and mongoose.

Others include springbok, gemsbok, duiker, porcupines and hordes of birds, reptiles and insects.

Officials of Survival International, a rights group aiding indigenous people to defend their life and protect their lands, could not be reached for comment.