The Ugandan government is in the process of creating a National Minerals Company aimed at overseeing the country’s investments in the mineral sector, according to Irene Batebe, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy & Mineral Development.
Batebe unveiled this initiative while addressing the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday, February 24, 2024. She explained that the National Minerals Company would hold commercial interests in Uganda’s mining sub-sector and would focus on investing in strategic minerals such as rare earth elements and cobalt.
The Ministry is currently preparing to pilot the company’s investments through the Kilembe Mines project and is actively working on capitalization with the Ministry of Finance to ensure its operationalization.
Batebe emphasized the importance of value addition in Uganda’s mineral sector, highlighting the government’s policy directive to ban the export of unprocessed minerals to maximize value. She likened the proposed National Mining Company to the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), which handles the government’s commercial interests in the petroleum sector.
UNOC, a wholly government-owned limited liability company, manages state participation in petroleum activities and explores new ventures in the petroleum sector to ensure sustainable exploitation of resources. The company’s mandate, outlined in the Petroleum (Exploration, Development, and Production) Act 2013, includes managing state participation in petroleum activities and proposing new ventures in the petroleum sector.
