Open Society Initiative for East Africa is opening the debate on minerals in Karamoja and calling for government to respect the land rights of the natives

1. THE CURRENT STATE OF THE MINERAL SECTOR IN KARAMOJA,
REVIEW OF THE MINING LAWS IN UGANDA AND THE KARAMOJA
AIRBORNE GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY
A Briefing Session to the:
Irish Embassy
14 October 2014
Kampala
Charles Kabiswa
Isaac Kabongo
Teddy Twine

3. Geology and mineral ooccccuurrrreenncceess iinn KKaarraammoojjaa

4. Irish AID unlocking
Karamoja Mineral Sector,
then DGF support
4

5. Current Concessions
 17,083.34sq.km (61.67%) of the 27,700 sq. km
total land area of Karamoja region is licensed for
mineral exploration and exploitation activities.
51 foreign and Ugandan
companies with 136
concessions, Exploring or
Mining in K’ja
5

8. Artisanal and Small scale Mining
Informal ASM: 20,000 miners
- Indirect and Induced Labour: 54,000
- Dependency (5): 360,000
- Total: 432,000 women, men and children

9. Lake Victoria
East Africa’s treasure 9

10. Lake Victoria
East Africa’s treasure 10

11. Lake Victoria
East Africa’s treasure 11

12. 2014/2015 Govt core investment priorities and
core projects for Karamoja region
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 Carry out airborne geophysical surveys of Karamoja region.
 Continue geological mapping, geochemical and geophysical
surveys and mineral resources assessment of Karamoja to
completion
 Select mineral targets for ground follow up .
 Interprete and harmonize geophysical data and maps with the
rest of Uganda
 Update mineral resources map of Karamoja
 To carry out inspections and monitoring of mining operations in
Karamoja Region
 Follow up the construction of the regional office and installation
of a mineral mini laboratory in Karamoja

13. Airborne Geophysical Survey in Karamoja

15. REVIEW OF THE MINING LAWS
 This year, Uganda's government under the Ministry of
Energy and Mineral Development, has started a review
of mining laws governing the industry that would
establish a new fiscal regime and legal framework
 To boost investment in the mining sector and to attract
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high worth capital to establish a modern and viable
mining industry in Uganda.
 The existing laws are the Mineral Policy, which was
established in 2001, the Mining Act 2003 and the
attendant regulations established in 2004.

16. Legal Reforms/Reviews
• Happen when Initial Desired goals and objectives of
the legal regime have changed, and/or the existing
laws/legal regime is preventing or failing to promote
the achievement of the desired goals and objectives.
• Global Mining industry has undergone significant
changes especially from Mid-1980’s to-date, and
developing countries have embarked on wide
ranging structural reforms designed to attract and
respond to demands of foreign investors.

17. First expected timeframe-SO TIGHT
• July 16-18 - workshop with selected stakeholders
• September - multi-stakeholder conference (the Ministry
will put forward their proposal for policy and legal reforms
at this time).
• October - theoretically validated proposal for reforms
goes to Cabinet.
• December - bill goes to the President.
. 17

18. Gov’t Review Process
• Starts with Identification of Gaps in the
current regulatory framework
• Any Mining Law serves for as good as ten (10)
years
1. Mineral Policy, 2001
2. Mining Act, 2003
3. Mining Regulations, 2004

19. Review continued..
• Identification of stake holders (mapping) in
the review process
1. Government of Uganda (Ministry of energy and Mineral
development)
2. Mining companies/individuals
3. NEMA, URA, NFA, UWA & other agencies
4. Chamber of Mines and Petroleum
5. Ugandans/mining communities
6. CSOs/NGOs

20. Consultative process: Gov’t plans
• Consultative workshops
• Mining site visits/consultations
• Agency consultations
• Conferences and workshops
• Bench marking from international good
practices

21. Gov’t Workshop On Mining Policy, Law And
Taxation Review, Speke Resort, Munyonyo
Basis For the Theme of The Workshop
•Global Expectations(resource driven development)
•Popular expectations(fair and transparent management)
•Government Expectations (revenues, jobs and industrialization)
•Industry expectations (access to resources on durable terms: level
playing field; social license to operate)
•El Value Chain (WB-5 links in the through which minerals in the ground
are translated into positive development)

22. Continued
• Natural Resources charter (12 policy principles to
guide review)
• Intergovernmental Forum on Mining Mining
Policy Framework (6 pillars of sound mining policy)
• Africa Mining Vision (7 pillars – Africa economic
transformation)
• The World Economic Forum's Responsible
Mineral development Initiative (Principles to ensure 7
benefits that result from responsible mining)

23. Need for Local Involvement
The civil society organizations, members of
the media and the community especially
those most affected by mining operations
like Karamoja require support to increase
their capacity to effectively scrutinize and
deliberate on the proposed legislation
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24. Stakeholders who shd come on board
• Representation of civil society to input to the proposed
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mining laws
• The Ministry of Energy and Minerals
• Mining interest Group-Karamoja
• District Mineral Watch Platform
• Media
• Engaging parliamentarians
• Local communities, particularly in mining areas
(Karamoja), to actively engage in the review processes
• National CSO platform e.g. CISCO, PWP
• Development Partners

25. Proposals for Next Steps with DGF Funding (1)
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• Convened a planning meeting with key stakeholders
• Hired a consultant (expert support) to analyze the
proposed changes to the mining law and regulations.
The analysis will focus on strengths, loopholes and
potential sources of vulnerability in the mining law and
regulations
• Plan to present the analysis to multi-stakeholders
meeting for their input
• Then meet with the local communities and
organisations in Karamoja for their input.

26. Proposals for Next Steps with DGF Funding
(2)
• We plan to organise and present in a session with the
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Parliamentary Standing Committee for Energy and
Minerals. This will help committee members to
understand the proposal and scrutinize the rationale
behind each alteration in relation to other available
options
• Meeting for the CSOs develop and agree on a joint
statement of their position on the process and contents
of the proposed mining laws and regulations, signed by
participants, and submitted to the Minister for Energy
and Minerals and publicly disseminated through the
media

27. Key priorities for policy advocacy
(1)
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• Clear evidence of free and informed consent from
affected communities prior to the granting of
exploration licenses, and again prior to the granting of
mining leases.
 Include robust procedures to consult with the
indigenous peoples of through their own
representative institutions and local governments
 Formalizing Information Flows and Communication
Channels. Improve public access to information and
transparency by Making information available to both
literate and non-literate community members.

28. Key priorities for policy
advocacy(2)
• set provisions for Formalization and improvements to
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Artisanal and Small-scale Miners to engage into the
formal mineral trade
• include a requirement for a human rights impact
assessment, detailing the potential impacts exploration
and active mining may have on affected communities
and their rights, what steps companies will take to
continually inform and communicate with affected
communities
• Laws should set strong provisions for the mining
companies to protect the Environmental Integrity.
Making a environment bond compulsory

29. Key priorities for policy
advocacy(3)
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• Amend Laws to harmonise Access to Crucial Natural
Resources: One of the most contentious issues in the
minerals sector concerns perceptions of State
ownership of minerals and powers of GOU to grant
“mineral rights” for exploration and mining on land
owned or occupied by others vs “Surface Rights”
• establish effective grievance mechanisms, in line with
good international practice, so that individuals affected
by mining projects can complain directly to companies
in addition to the government
• Harmonised the Mining Laws with the Land Laws to
provide for Security of Land Tenure especially for
communal or collective land ownership

30. Key priorities for policy advocacy
(4)
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• Need to amend the requirements of the payment of
the Loyalties and also increased of the %age paid to the
landowners.
• Compulsory corporate social responsibility
• Local representation of the mining ministry eg Village
Environment committees for Environment.

31. The Good News
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 We have an opportunity to address these issues or
atleast most of them in the Mineral Regislation Review
exercise
 And information will more available in after the
Airborne Geophysical survey
 (This might as well create more conflict as more
companies increase to come if the laws don’t address
the key issues)
 We need to be supportive and actively involved of this
process.