Figures from
the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) indicate that in the Financial Year
2022/2023, mining contributed 2.2 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP)
and according to the Uganda National Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, if
integrated into the national economy, the artisanal mining sector could
contribute an additional 1.3 percent to GDP to make 3.5 percent.
Ms Nyamutoro said given the great potential of the sector, the government,
through the Energy ministry, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA),
and partners like planetGOLD Uganda are now focusing on attracting investment
and improving regulatory frameworks to encourage sustainable mining practices.
“The mercury is
not good for your health. There are health hazards associated with it continued
use in the process of extraction of gold so as a government we cannot sit back
and simply watch this happening! It has to stop,” she said.
Ms Nyamutoro
said she has traversed all the districts, including Buhweju, Amudat, Moroto,
Busia, Namayingo, Kassanda, and Kisoro where gold is being mined, and found out
that artisanal miners have continued to endanger their lives by extensively
using mercury to extract and process the mineral.
“The Busia team
is saving the environment by using alternative technologies but I still have
issues with them because there are those that are widely using mercury for
processing their gold,” she said.
The annual
stakeholders’ meeting was convened by planetGOLD Uganda, a five-year project
executed by IMPACT in partnership with the Ministry of Energy’s Department of
Mines and NEMA with support from the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) and is currently implemented in 23
countries including Uganda.
In Uganda, the programme is spearheaded by planetGOLD Uganda and the
project manager, Ms Lynn Gitu, explained to Daily Monitor that there are about
60,000 ASGM miners who often use mercury to extract gold from ore or sediments.
The resulting mixture of mercury and gold, known as amalgam, is heated to
vaporise the toxic mercury and leave the gold behind.
“This is a
five-year project, we aim to support 4,500 men and women at eleven mine sites
in the country, reducing mercury use by 15 tonnes over the five years by
supporting formalisation of the artisanal gold mining sector and increasing
access to finance,” she said.
Asked about how
artisanal and small-scale gold miners can get funds to acquire the
technologies, which she admitted are really expensive, Ms Gitu said the story
of Bank of Uganda’s plans to begin buying the gold locally for foreign reserve
published in Daily Monitor in July 2024 has attracted the interest from the
financial institution to provide credit to the ASGMs in the country.
“These
financial institutions include Uganda Development Bank, Stanbic Bank Uganda,
Equity Bank, Centenary Bank Uganda... that have expressed willingness to lend
to ASGM in the country,” she explained.
While emphasising the theme for the 2024 stakeholders’ meeting; ‘From
Mines to Markets; Strengthening Artisanal and Small scale Gold Mining through
Cooperative Networks’, Ms Gitu also advised artisanal miners to form
cooperatives for stronger bargaining power.
The UNEP has so
far produced four reports about the use of mercury in gold mining. It explains
that the Global Mercury Assessment 2018 is the fourth such assessment
undertaken by UNEP, following earlier reports in 2002, 2008, and 2013.
Mr Inaki
Rodriguez Lazaro, the UNEP programme manager in Uganda, said: “The UNEP tries
to help in the regulatory platform to regulate the sector, it helps in
supporting them to access finance and promoting safe technologies among
others.”