Uganda’s first large-scale gold mine aims to increase exports
The president’s office said that Uganda has opened its first large-scale gold mine, a $250 million Chinese-owned facility in the country’s east that will purify the gold to 99.9% purity.
The landlocked nation in east Africa, which is rich in minerals such as iron ore, copper, and cobalt, hopes to grow its mining sector and establish itself as a significant producer and exporter of gold.
According to central bank figures, Uganda earned $3.4 billion from gold exports last year, which accounts for almost 37% of the nation’s overall export earnings. The number includes the re-export of gold that is brought into the nation, with small-scale artisanal miners producing almost all of it domestically.
Ghana, Africa’s largest producer of bullion, raised $11.6 billion from exports of the metal last year, considerably exceeding its prior gains in gold export earnings.
In a statement released late Saturday, President Yoweri Museveni stated, “We need full value addition for all minerals like gold, lithium, and tin among others, in order to wake up in the minerals sector.”
Inaugurated President Museveni on Saturday, the Wagagai Gold Mining Project is owned by Wagagai Mining (U) Limited and spans slightly over nine square kilometers in the Busia district.
The statement estimates that the factory, which has begun operations, would process 5,000 tons of gold ore day and generate roughly 1.2 metric tons of refined gold annually. In 2023, Uganda’s total domestic production was only 0.0042 tons.
According to Museveni, Uganda would invest the money it receives from the sale of gold in the construction of power plants and the nation’s railway.
A standard gauge railway for 2.7 billion euros ($3.16 billion) is presently being built in landlocked Uganda to lower the cost of shipping its imports and exports through neighboring Kenya.
