Digging Deep Dialogue 34: Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum

Digging Deep (DD) makes a trip to Uganda, the 'Pearl of Africa' a name given to a country renowned for its landscape, beauty and wildlife. We have taken a keen interest in the traction and developments in Uganda's mining industry, ever since we penned the article Top 10 minerals mined in Uganda . Our interest is not in vain, as we get to meet a humble, patriotic and resources industry son of Uganda in Humphrey Asiimwe (HA), the CEO of the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum (UCMP) . Our conversation with him, delves into his role as CEO, how the Chamber brings together the different stakeholders keen on participating in the mining and petroleum value chains in Uganda and the rest of the world, the role of artisanal mining in Uganda's mining value chain, and what we can expect from the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum in the future. Let's dig deep and learn more from Humphrey.

DD: Welcome to the Digging Deep Dialogue Humphrey, it’s a pleasure and honor to have you. Can you please tell us more about yourself and your role as CEO of the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum?

HA: My name is Humphrey Asiimwe. I am the Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Chamber of Mines & Petroleum. My role as CEO is to ensure that the day-to-day work of the Chamber runs as planned in our annual work plan. I have a competent team that I guide to run the Chamber daily. I also have a supporting board that does the oversight role in line with our strategic plan.

DD: What is the sole mandate of the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum? How does it bring together the different stakeholders keen on participating in the mining and petroleum value chains in Uganda and the rest of the world?

HA: The Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum (UCMP) is a not-for-profit, Member-based voluntary organization representing private players' interests in Uganda’s extractive sector (petroleum and mining). We work closely with the state to develop the country’s extractive sector.

Launched in 2010, UCMP coordinates and facilitates information sharing, advisory, and administrative support to prospective and current investors in Uganda’s mining and petroleum sectors.

It also promotes, encourages, protects, and fosters responsible mining, beneficiation, and service delivery in these sectors. UCMP’s activities are linked to five main goals – lobbying and advocacy, research and development, business support services, stakeholder engagement, and efficient internal organization.

We hold high-profile sector conferences and meetings with targeted industry players to achieve our mandate. Annually, we organize the Oil and Gas Convention, and the Mineral Wealth Conference.

These conferences bring together national and international participants to share industry updates – opportunities, challenges, and business opportunities. Alongside those big two, we also hold sector meetings targeting the different sub-sectors aligned to the extractive sector.

Our work is aligned to the different sectors including Oil and Gas Exploration, Labor Skilling and Entrepreneurship, Quality Health Safety Environment (QHSE), Insurance, Legal and Compliance, Media and Communications, Logistics and Transport, Engineering and Construction, Manufacturing, Mining and Mineral Development, Finance and Energy.

We have targeted media campaigns like the 90 Days of Oil and Gas Media campaign – geared towards information gathering and dissemination to inform investment and related decisions.

More details: https://ucmp.ug/industry-news/

DD: Uganda has a vast endowment of minerals, evident in the gold reserves worth $13 trillion announced in 2022. Is there a drive for in-country refining? Is there broader industrialization tied to refining? What role does artisanal mining play in the value chain?

HA: There is a presidential directive on refining minerals in the country. No actor in the value chain for the mineral sub-sector is allowed to export unrefined minerals.

The government is pushing for value addition to maximize earnings from the minerals space. To be specific to your question, Uganda's drive for the gold refinery is motivated by economic, regulatory, and strategic considerations aimed at maximizing the benefits of its gold resources including job creation, increased foreign exchange earnings, and related benefits.

Uganda has already taken steps towards establishing gold refineries. For instance, the African Gold Refinery (AGR) in Entebbe is one of the largest gold refineries in the region, capable of refining gold to international standards. There are other small refineries including Simba Gold Refinery Limited, Bullion Refinery Limited, Metal Testing and Smelting Co. Ltd and Aurnish Trading Ltd.

Artisanal Miners miners contribute significantly to production – they are the primary producers of gold in the country. They extract gold from deposits using rudimentary techniques, contributing significantly to the total gold output.

DD: Empowering artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM) is key in developing Uganda. Can you tell us more about the past, present and future engagements of the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum with ASM communities?

HA: UCMP has over the years engaged artisanal miners through its annual events. The Chamber has held networking events to expose these small miners to individuals and companies that can partner with them to improve their operations.

We are glad that the new Mining and Minerals Act seeks to recognize artisanal miners as a legal group that we believe is going to maximize their benefits and deal with the challenges they face. We were part of the entire process of formulating this law. We will actively engage the government in areas where we think need adjustment for the benefit of Artisanal miners and the other players in the value chain.

Over the years, we have identified key challenges facing this group including the lack of necessary equipment to mine and clean, and refine gold, lack of Personal Protection Equipment which compromise their health and safety, poor governance, and the lack of basic financial skills to go about their business.

They have also faced threats from third parties regarding their work and have been exploited by middlemen claiming to be connected to state organs.

We have recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Uganda Association of Artisanal and Small-scale Miners and we are looking at broadly building their capacity to profitably run their enterprises in terms of market access, acquisition of appropriate equipment, financial skilling programmes and more.

DD: Let’s get futuristic, what can we expect from the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum in the future?

HA: UCMP is innovating every other day. The global debate on energy transition is progressively getting to our agenda. We intend to rebrand the Chamber to cover other areas of energy beyond petroleum. This is a work in progress at different levels of our organisation.

We look forward to forging more formal partnerships with relevant sector players including development partners and other private sector groups. We already have a good working relationship with our line ministry – the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (Uganda) and its line agencies.

We are working towards broadening our service offering for our big annual events to include more voices of youth and women especially in the innovations space. We will further be involved in international events to forge partnerships that can add value to what our members are doing.

We are planning to enhance our information sharing and dissemination by holding more campaigns in the sector and engaging media partners at national and international level.

We are also going big on our digital spaces and are regularly sharing sector information for our members and stakeholders to consume. We envision a Chamber that will continue to influence key decision-making at the national and international levels in the extractive sector.

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