Gold in Busia was first discovered by the artisanal miners in 1915 but was officially documented in 1932 by Sir Edward James Wayland the first Commissioner of Geological Survey of Uganda. In his findings, he confirmed that the gold was found in the Archaean greenstone belt of south eastern Uganda which extends into south western Kenya and north eastern Tanzania and forms part of the Tanzanian craton. That moment sparked a legacy. Over the years, private companies uncovered more deposits in Alupe and Budama. Intensive mineral exploration revealed gold-bearing quartz veins named Bauerle’s Burren Reef and Bush Reef.
In 1990, recognizing the district’s extraordinary gold potential, the Government of Uganda partnered with BRGM of France (Bureau de recherches géologues et minières) for an extensive exploration programme. This confirmed the presence of gold in Tira, Amonikakinei, Masaba Buinja, and Eseka hosted in the auriferous quartz veins in basic metavolcanic facies and another by the Banded Iron Formations (BIF) where gold may be disseminated and/or occur in sulphide-bearing quartz veinlets.
Further investigations by the United Nations Development Programme in 1994, and later by the World Bank under the Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources Project in 2011, reaffirmed that Busia is blessed with gold. And thus gold maining became the source of livelyhood in Busia area and this came with a number of irregularities including child labour and use of mercury for gold separation.
In 2019, Wagagai Group of companies partnered with Roraima mining Company to spend upto a tune of $150M to start large scale gold mining in Busia and mineral processing to a tune of 99.9% pure gold
During the event, the President of Wagagai group of companies Mr. welcomed the President of Uganda, ambassador of Uganda from China and all distinguished guests and thanked all stakeholders for the support rendered in the development of Wagagai gold mine, which is expected to produce 1.2 metric tons of gold annually. In his speech he spoke about the journey of Wagagai to present including the funds used to set up the mine so far to execute Phase 2 out of the 4 phases.
The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Hon. Canon Dr. Ruth Nankabira expressed gratitude to His Excellence the President for his visionary leadership by halting export of raw minerals and emphasizing value addition. She also thanked the management of Wagagai for aligning their plans with NDPIV. She reminded the invited guests that since the National Mining Company was fully established, it was required to participate in mineral exploitation along with the private companies including Wagagai and Kilembe Mines Limited which were now fully operational.
His Excellence the President expressed his gratitude to Wagagai Group for supporting government’s vision of value addition, which aims at promoting industrialization, job creation , wealth creation and hence socioeconomic transformation of the people of Uganda.. In his speech, he noted that historical mining in Uganda since colonial times was wasteful and exploitative since most of the companies were exporting raw materials while Uganda continued importing finished products from the same minerals. From that day hence forward, H.E the president exepected Kilembe Mines Limited process Copper to 99.9% (Cathode copper).
The president advised that since minerals get depleted, it was better the financial resources collected from finite resources such as minerals be used to build lasting assets like power plants, railway lines, and many others. Also H.E wanted to see that the Artisans He further advised locals to desist from ring facing minerals in their land as their own since they are state owned and should be used to develop the whole Uganda.
The President highlighted concerns regarding the factory’s energy consumption, cautioning that it could have an impact on its operations. Hence advised the locals to bare with them as government tries to stabilise power supply to the mine.
The event end at 6:00pm with a group photo of the President with Ministers and company leaders.
