Irene Batebe, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, has revealed plans by Gov’t to establish a National Minerals Company that will oversee Uganda’s investment in the mineral sector.
Batebe said, “We do boost significant mineral deposits and we are working to see how these add value and as one of the few policy directives is value addition where we put a ban on export of unprocessed minerals in order to ensure value for money. We are working to put in place a National Mining Company that will be nearing what Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) is doing.”
Batebe made the remarks yesterday while appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee where the Ministry had been summoned to respond to some of the queries raised in the December 2023 Auditor General’s report.
“The National Mining Company will hold the stakes commercial interest in the mining sub-sector and it will invest on behalf of Government in our strategic minerals; rare earth elements, cobalt and we are already preparing to ensure that we pilot its investment through Kilembe Mines, so we are working on that, we are already working on capitalization and we are working with Finance to make that happen as we work to fully operationalize that company,” added Batebe.
More than 80% of the country has been surveyed for mineral quantities and locations. New geo-data shows that Uganda has large underexploited mineral deposits of gold, oil, high grade tin, tungsten/wolfram, salt, beryllium, cobalt, kaolin, iron ore, glass sand, vermiculite, phosphates (agricultural fertiliser), uranium and rare earth elements.
There are also significant quantities of clay and gypsum. Investment opportunities exist in mining and mineral processing with special incentives provided to the mining sector, including writing off capital expenditures in full.
