UGANDA’S MINERAL POTENTIAL – THE UNEXPLORED COUNTRY JOSHUA T TUHUMWIRE COMMISSIONER DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND MINES Mines & Money Conference, London – 2008 Email: joshua.tuhumwire@minerals.go.ug LOCATION GEOLOGY AND MINERAL OCCURENCES OF UGANDA GEOLOGICAL POTENTIAL * SOME GEOINFORMATION AVAILABLE * FAVOURABLE GEOLOGICAL SETTING * METASEDIMENTS, INTRUSIVES AND MAJOR STRUCTURES SUCH AS RIFTING & SHEARS * GEOLOGY DOMINATED BY PRECAMBRIAN ROCKS * AIRBORNE GEOPHYSICAL DATA COVERING NEARLY 80% OF COUNTRY GEOLOGICAL POTENTIAL cont’d * VARIETY OF MINERALS: PRECIOUS, NONPRECIOUS & INDUSTRIAL * GOLD, COPPER, COBALT, NICKEL, ZINC, LEAD, TIN, BERYLLIUM, COL-TAN, PGM, BISMUTH, LITHIUM * LIMESTONE, MARBLE, PHOSPHATE, VERMICULITE & SILICA SAND * NUMEROUS OLD AND CURRENT ARTISANAL WORKINGS * POTENTIAL FOR WORLD-CLASS DISCOVERIES MAJOR GOLD TRENDS UGANDA AT THE CROSSROADS NEIGHBOURING GOLD DEPOSITS Golden Pride Golden Ridge Bulyanhulu Geita Tulawaka Kilo – Moto Twangiza Tanzania Tanzania Tanzania Tanzania Tanzania DRC DRC M oz 1.6 16 11 +4 +2 37.6 M oz Predominantly in Lake Victoria Greenstone Belt STRATEGIES – MINERAL POLICY, 2001 • • • • • • • Mineral Resources Contribute to Development Sector Development by Private Participation Minimize Social and Environmental Impact Develop Local Capacity Regularize Artisanal Mining Women Participation Value Added STRATEGIES – MINING ACT, 2003 • • • • • • Ownership Vested in Government Various Mineral Rights Mineral Agreements with investors Separation of Powers in administration Royalties payable on gross value Royalty Revenues Shared: Government/Local Government and Landowner STRATEGIES – MINING ACT cont’d • Activities to comply with National Environmental Management Act • Compensate Landowners for Disturbance • Settlement of Disputes: Administrative Reviews / Courts of Law • Removal of Discretionary Powers • Arbitration through sole expert 10 STRATEGIES – MINERAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME • 2004-2011: World Bank/IDA, African Development Bank, Nordic Development Fund, and Government of Uganda • Geoscience Data – Airborne Geophysical Surveys: 700,000 line-kms of magnetic, radiometric & EM to be acquired – To date approx 558,000 line-kms flown with completion expected by Feb 09 – Geological Mapping, Geochemical Surveys & Mineral Resources Assessment commenced in Nov 2008 – Establishment of Geoscience Databases, Geological 11 & Mineral Information System is in progress Priority areas for airborne geophysical surveys AfDB IDA AfDB IDA AfDB AfDB IDA 12 Airborne magnetic total field intensity 13 Airborne total count radiometrics 14 STRATEGIES – MINERAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME cont’d • Capacity Building – through training and retooling • Transparency in Mineral Titles administration • Physical infrastructure development • Investment Promotion 15 CONCLUSIONS • UGANDA HAS EXCELLENT POTENTIAL • NEW GEOSCIENCE DATA PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES • INVESTOR FRIENDLY POLICIES AND CLIMATE WARM WELCOME TO VISIT UGANDA BOOTH 331, AT THE MINES & MONEY CONFERENCE 16 THANK YOU 17