Yoweri Museveni likes to loom as the biggest support in Africa added.
According to the Ugandan President, in power of 39 years, Africa has been authorized for decades to be “stolen” for decades by exporting raw materials, in particular minerals and other products, the economies developed which then harvest higher margins in the value chain.
Museveni prohibited the export of unprocessed agricultural products in 2021, and in April, he extended the ban on all unprocessed raw materials, including gold, lithium and tin. Last month, the growth of added value appeared in the inauguration of the largest Ugandan gold project, Wagagai Gold Mining.
The fuel behind the company is an investment of $ 250 million from Hongda Enterprise in Liaoning in China, of which Wagagai Mining is the Ugandan subsidiary. With 30 million tonnes of proven gold ore reserves, Wagagai can refine gold at 99.9%, according to the government, allowing a production of 1.2 ton metric per year.
When it is fully operational, the project should create more than 5,000 direct jobs, gold exports generating more than $ 100 million per year during its life of 20 years. Uganda raised $ 3.4 billion in gold exports in 2024, but above all from the artisanal exploitation that Museveni wants to discourage.
“Under my direction, we will not export unprocessed minerals, because it undermines our economy,” promised Museveni. The Wagagai project will end “useless” exports and integrate Uganda into a new era of added value.
Just as important, for many observers, Wagagai mines represent a new phase in the in -depth but uneven relationship between Uganda and China. Chinese investors have pumped nearly $ 1 billion in sectors such as mining parks, agriculture, manufacturing, oil and gas and industrial parks in the nation of East Africa.
The Gold Mining and Refining project represents another step in China’s efforts to control African minerals. For Beijing, keeping Wagagai in tight grip is of strategic importance. Uganda has seen its public debt increase at unprecedented levels, reaching $ 31.5 billion in June, of which $ 2.5 billion represents costly Beijing loans. The parliamentary files indicate that Uganda paid in China 178.7 million dollars in December 2024 for the debt service, the most to one of its lenders.
The cost of the loan service has prompted legislators to plead with China to reduce interest rates; So far, in vain.