Minister calls for cap on mineral exploration licences
An artisanal miners collecting marble stones. PHOTOs | by Paul Murungi
What you need to know:
- Licences will continue to be issued to competent and qualified exploration and mining companies.
The State Minister for Mineral Development, Mr Peter Lokeris, has urged government to amend the law on minerals to put a cap on number of operating licences an investor/ company can have at a given time.
Mr Lokeris said the cap will eliminate monopoly of some powerful companies and investors who have exploration licences.
“The Act does not prescribe the maximum number of licences that a company can possess and a provision for the amalgamation of adjacent licences where the holder is the same or the holders express interests to joint venture upon providing proof of similar and continuous mineralisation in the mining or exploration areas,” he said yesterday.
This was during a workshop on the Mining and Mineral Bill, 2020, in Kampala.
“There is need for a provision to cater for maximum number of licences that a company can possess and a provision for the amalgamation of adjacent licences and review the maximum size of an exploration licence,” the minister added.
Mr Lokeris also called for the amendment of the current law to grant mineral rights on a competitive basis to viable investors.
He said areas with limited geological information, licences will continue to be issued to competent and qualified exploration and mining companies on a first come, first serve basis.
Mr Simon Peter Nagiro, an elder, decried the manner in which companies take minerals from Karamoja yet residents continue to live in deplorable conditions because they have no share.
