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Mad rush for potential gold deposits in Buikwe
A private forest in Zzitwe Village Sii Bukunja Sub-county in Buikwe District which purportedly has gold deposits. PHOTO/GODFREY MASIKO
What you need to know:
- The assistant commissioner for license administration in the mines department of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Mr Vincent Kedi, in an earlier interview, said Buikwe District is not very far from Namayingo and Busia districts where there is gold.
Authorities in Buikwe are reporting a mad rush to the district after the government announced potential gold deposits in the district.
Buikwe District LC5 chairperson, Mr Jimmy Kanaabi, says he has been approached by people purporting to be acting on behalf of the Ministry of Energy, expressing interest in exploiting gold in the area, but he says he chased them because they lacked supporting documents.
“There is a group of people who came to the (Buikwe) District headquarters, saying there was a discovery of gold in the area, but we told them to go back and bring documents from the Ministry of Energy supporting their case,” he said in an interview.
Mr Kanaabi, who neither named the parties nor stated when they made a rush to the district, said they have not returned to-date.
The assistant commissioner for license administration in the mines department of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Mr Vincent Kedi, in an earlier interview, said Buikwe District is not very far from Namayingo and Busia districts where there is gold.
“It is also very possible that Buikwe has potential gold deposits, but at this time I can't say with certainty that there is a discovery of gold. A discovery of something is when we have reached and found how much it is. That's what we call a discovery but Buikwe is having potential for gold minerals,” he said.
Mr Hassan Ssemwanga, a 56-year-old resident of Zzitwe Parish in Sii Bukunja sub-county, says the “gold talk” will only fuel land grabbing in the area.
“Our district is one with the highest rates of land wrangles,” he warned, tasking the district leadership to shed more light on the matter.
He added: “We know that when the government wants to implement any project in a specific area, the district leadership are the first to be approached.”
A document authored by Mr Kedi suggests that recent airborne geophysical data integrated with new geological maps have resulted in 18 mineral potential targets for further detailed exploration by investors.
The purported gold deposits in the district are highlighted in the sub-counties of Ngogwe and Sii Bukunja with 73 villages and 65 villages respectively.
The government has since carried out an extensive acquisition, processing and interpretation of air-borne geophysical data across 80 per cent of the country, resulting in the discovery of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) in Busoga Sub-region.
Government has also since reiterated its commitment to compensate residents living in the mineral areas of Busoga Sub-region.
