SMM11, 12 March: Uganda's gross domestic product (GDP) is growing steadily at a rate of 4.25 per cent a year, and the country's mining industry has the potential to bring further economic prosperity. Compared with its East African neighbours, Uganda has attracted the largest amount of foreign direct investment (FDI),). Most of the investment has gone to coffee and mining. As the Government of Uganda recognized the importance of a strong and transparent legal framework for its mining sector mining companies began to be gradually attracted to Uganda. As part of Uganda's extensive legislative reform, the Government implemented a revised mining law in 2018, which will help attract further investment in the country's mining industry. Rio Tinto recently pledged $57 million to build a basic metals mining project in Kitgum Pader in northern Uganda.
Located in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, Uganda has one of the richest and most diverse natural resource landscapes in Africa, geographically similar to that of neighboring Congo. Parts of Uganda have many similar geological conditions to Katanga (Katanga) in the Congo.
Katanga Mining produced 525t of cobalt and 27677 tonnes of copper in the first quarter of 2018.
A national mineral survey, funded by the World Bank (World Bank) and the Nordic Bank (Nordic Bank) and managed by the Finnish Geological Survey (finland Geological survey), found deposits of uranium, tin, coltan, nickel, copper and gold all over Uganda. It provides strong evidence for the great potential of the Ugandan mining sector. The largest Kilembe copper-cobalt mine in US history is located in Uganda, producing more than 16 million tons of ore, with a copper grade of about 2.0 per cent and a cobalt grade of about 0.2 per cent. Other parts of the country have also been found to contain large amounts of cobalt resources, which could make Uganda critical to the global cobalt industry. At present, the global supply of cobalt comes from the politically unstable Congo. If there is a more stable political environment now and a Government that is actively developing its mining infrastructure, Uganda's mining industry may be able to provide a solution to the shortage of cobalt supply in the future.
History of Mining in Uganda
Mining production in Uganda peaked in the 1950s and 1960s, when mining accounted for 30 per cent of the country's exports and 7 per cent of GDP. In the late 1950s, the Kirimbe copper mine employed more than 6000 people at its peak, between 1962 and 1975 by Eagle Bridge Co., Ltd. (Falconbridge Ltd.) Operation. However, following a period of civil war that limited mining activities in Uganda, the political environment in Uganda began to stabilize gradually in the mid-1980s. The Uganda National Mining Council was established in 1988 and mining revenues increased by 48 per cent during the boom of 1995-1997. From 1989 to 2009, Uganda was one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. In recent years, Uganda's mining industry has begun to surge, with gold becoming the country's second-largest export after coffee. The revived Ugandan mining industry employs thousands of people and provides the country with much-needed opportunities to increase its economic output.
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