By Diana N. Kintu
16th September 2026
Kampala, Uganda: For years, Uganda’s minerals have left the country before anyone here got the chance to add value to them, dug up, exported raw, and turned into finished products somewhere else. Government now says that pattern must change.
Briefing the media ahead of the 15th Annual Mineral Wealth Conference & Expo (MWC 2026), Minister of State Hon. Phiona Nyamutoro said Uganda is pushing the sector beyond the limited returns of exporting raw minerals towards processing, refining and manufacturing at home.
“We must increasingly move from the export of raw minerals towards processing, beneficiation, refining, manufacturing and other downstream activities that create greater value within our economy,” Nyamutoro said.
The stakes behind that shift are significant. Uganda has confirmed more than 58 categories of minerals, with high-resolution aeromagnetic surveys mapping opportunities in rare earth elements, gold, iron ore, phosphates, graphite, cobalt, copper, lithium, coltan and other 3Ts, limestone, marble and vermiculite.
These resources have applications in clean-energy technology, electric vehicles, steel production, fertilizer manufacturing and electronics, industries where greater local processing could create opportunities beyond simply extracting and exporting ore.
Nyamutoro was blunt about the trap Uganda wants to avoid.
“For too long, mineral-producing countries have faced the challenge of capturing only a limited share of the value generated from their resources. Uganda must pursue a different path,” she said.
That path, she said, requires investment in technology, skills, infrastructure, financing and geological knowledge, and investors willing to move beyond exploration and extraction into the parts of the value chain that can create greater value within Uganda.
“I therefore welcome investors, financiers, technology providers and industry players who are ready to work with Uganda not only in exploration and extraction, but also in processing, refining, manufacturing, technology and other value-addition opportunities,” she said.
This year’s conference, themed “Beneath the Surface: Unlocking Africa’s Next Mining Powerhouse,” will run from 29–30 September 2026 at Speke Resort Munyonyo, followed by an Eastern Uganda excursion from 1–3 October, giving participants direct access to the country’s mineral sites.
The event will include Business-to-Business engagements and a dedicated Deals Room designed to turn discussions into partnerships and projects. Previous editions have attracted more than 1,000 delegates annually from over 52 countries.
Nyamutoro also linked the value-addition push to formalising Uganda’s artisanal and small-scale miners, not by removing them from the sector, but by helping them operate legally and access markets, technology and finance.
“Our approach is therefore not simply to remove miners from the sector, but to support them to operate legally, safely, productively and responsibly,” she said.
She closed by reframing what success should actually look like for Uganda’s mining sector.
“The question is no longer simply, what minerals does Uganda have? The more important question is: what are we going to build from the mineral resources we have?” Nyamutoro said.
For decades, the answer to that question was largely written outside Uganda’s borders: in the refineries and factories of the countries buying its raw ore. Government’s bet now is that the next chapter gets written at home instead.
Source: Ministerial Press Statement on the 15th Annual Mineral Wealth Conference & Expo 2026, Hon. Phiona Nyamutoro, Ministry for Energy and Mineral Development, 16th September 2026.