The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has granted a large-scale mining license to Sunbird Resources Limited to mine lime on an 11 square kilometer area in Moroto District with a 21-year validity period.
The company will mine 8,000 tonnes of limestone daily at Moroto’s Rupa Sub-County in Karamoja sub-region. Limestone is a crucial raw material for making clinker products, an intermediary solid material used to produce portland cement.
Dr. Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development issued the license while meeting officials from the company at Amber House, the Ministry’s headquarters in Kampala.
Sunbird Resources’s Director, Ambrose Byoona, said the license that took effect on January 21, 2024, follows a consolidated and systematic exploration work that commenced in 2015, resulting in the discovery of over 67 million tonnes of clinkerable limestone.
Byoona explained that Ugandan cement manufacturers have been paying USD 155, about 600,000 Shillings to import a tonne of clinker from Kenya, India, Egypt, Brazil, Russia, and Iran among others, noting that once the Moroto factory starts to operate it will benefit Uganda’s economy tremendously.
It is the second-largest mining license issued by the Ministry after it awarded Rwenzori Rare Metals Limited, an Australian company a 21-year license in January to explore 44 square kilometers of rare earth minerals in the Busoga sub-region.
Sunbird Resources has partnered with West International Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of West China Cement Limited, a Hong Kong-listed company, an international enterprise integrating cement production, marketing, corporate management, and industrial investment, to set up a 6,000 tonnes Clinker Line, and one million tonnes per year cement factory at Nadunget Sub-County.
The USD 300 million, about 1.164 trillion Shillings’ overall investment will culminate into royalty payments to the consolidated fund of over 160 million Shillings per day of operation. The factory, on completion which is expected in July 2025 is projected to be the largest cement plant in Uganda.
It is estimated to create 600 direct and 3,000 indirect employment opportunities for Ugandans as well as import substitution for the 2.4 million tonnes of clinker imported annually valued at over USD 700 million, approximately 2.718 trillion Shillings.
To spur the local industries through value addition aimed at creating employment opportunities for the citizens, the government imposed a total ban on unrefined minerals following a directive from President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in February 2015.
Parliament passed the Mining and Minerals Act 2022 in February and was assented to by the President in October the same year to enforce the ban.
