Orapa

{{Short description|City in Northern Botswana}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Coord|21|20|02|S|25|21|53|E|region:BW_type:city_source:wikimapia|display=title}} [[Image:BW-Orapa.png|thumb|right|225px|Location of Orapa in Botswana]]

'''Orapa''' is a [[List of cities in Botswana|town]] located in the [[Central District (Botswana)|Central District]] of [[Botswana]]. It is the site of the [[Orapa diamond mine]], the largest [[diamond]]-producing mine in the world, and is considered to be the diamond capital of the country. Nearby is another [[kimberlite]] mine owned by [[Lucara Diamond]], thought to have very large reserves of diamonds.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/15020/african-diamonds-partner-lucara-diamond-ups-in-situ-value-of-ak6-to-at-least-22-billion-15020.html|access-date=2011-04-01|title=African Diamonds partner Lucara Diamond ups in situ value of AK6 to at least $2.2 billion - Proactiveinvestors (UK)}}</ref>

The town has four schools, one of which teaches in [[English language|English]], serving a community containing a high proportion of immigrants. The population in 1996 was approximately 10,000 which increased in the next 10 years and is still increasing due to mining output in line with development targets.<ref>[http://www.cso.gov.bw/ Central Statistics Office, Republic of Botswana]</ref>

According to the 2022 Population and Household census, the population of Orapa stood at 8,648.<ref name="Statistics Botswana - Census 2022 - Population of cities, towns and villages">{{Cite web |title=Statistics Botswana - Census 2022 - Population of cities, towns and villages |url=https://www.statsbots.org.bw/sites/default/files/publications/Population%20of%20Cities%20Towns%20and%20Villages%20%202022.pdf}}</ref>

==See also== * [[Nwetwe Pan]] * [[Sua Pan]]

==References== <references /> {{Botswana largest cities}}

[[Category:Populated places in the Central District (Botswana)]] [[Category:Mining communities in Africa]]