Africa-Press – Uganda. Experts at the 12th Annual Mineral Conference want the government to quantify her mineral wealth so as to attract investment in the exploration, development, and extraction of her minerals.
These say that with the energy transition debate becoming more intense in Europe and other continents, extraction and processing of rare earth minerals that are used in the manufacture of Electric Vehicles and windmills facilitate the just transition for Africa.
According to the United Nations, Africa is home to approximately 30% of the world’s entire mineral reserves. In fact, nearly half of the world’s gold resides here
A report was done in 2022, by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a research and analysis division of The Economist Group: In 2022, South Africa’s annual mineral production was estimated at $124.96 billion, Nigeria’s at $52.69 billion, Algeria was $38.70 billion, Angola at $32.04 billion.
Uganda would perhaps be ranking highly in such rankings but it has little or no knowledge about how much mineral wealth.
As Humphery Asiimwe the CEO of the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum said;
“ This conference is here to bring all the stakeholders to discuss issues of quantification of our minerals as a country , and since we have all gathered, let us now get to work. The government should support the Department of Geological Survey and Mines to carry out exploration. We have reasons to believe that there is a lot of iron ore in the southwestern part of Uganda. We need to mine it since it has been earmarked as a mineral that can spur development.“
Knowledge of the amount of deposits of minerals beneath the ground would not only attract investment but would inform policy. Government however says that it is doing the needful.
Peter Lokeris the State Minister for Energy and Mineral Development, representing Minister Ruth Nankabirwa said “Government has secured machinery to enable the Department of Geological Survey and Mines to carry out exploration and determine how much of these minerals we have. We have also passed a number of laws that are relevant to growing the sector “
As the Ugandan Oil and gas sector’s development stage becomes more intense with a lot of action happening in the oil-rich areas, sector experts are confident that the first quarter of 2025 commercial oil production is achievable.
For the longest, African countries have held huge import bills for electronics and smartphones that are manufactured using rare earth minerals like aluminium and Zinc.
Those who have invested heavily in the sector of rare earth minerals believe that the returns are immense.
Tim Harrison, the Managing Director, of Ionic Rare Earths said “ The demand for electronics and smartphones has been on a steady rise and the energy transition debate is continuing market we must supply the market with EVs ( Electric Vehicles) and Windmills and minerals like aluminium, steel and iron ore are much needed”
The two-day mineral wealth conference is expected to discuss the state of Artisanal mining, new mining technologies value addition in the sector among other concerns.
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