Experts say Africa must add value to her minerals

Africa doesn't have enough knowledge of what the mineral sector entails, experts said on Wednesday.

They said African countries should push for value addition on their available minerals to be able to get revenue from the sector.

In Africa, we don't know the quantity of resources we have, and because we don't know, we can't value them, experts noted.

The remarks were made during the second day of E-conference 2020 by Mineral Africa Development Institute (MADI), a non -governmental organization.

The discussion was live on NBS television.

Bob Felix Ociti from Petroleum Authority Uganda, said one of the challenges of Africa is that mining industries are always degrading the environment.

"When you look at Johannesburg and other parts of Africa, you'll find large chunks of land that have been degraded. We have seen scenarios where investors come to Africa and tell us that we don't have competent people to work in the minerals sector,"he said.

He noted that the best way to predict the future of Africa is to create it.

Dr Frank Mugyenyi, the founder and chairman of MADI, said in order to benefit from the sector, there is need to formalize the mining sector noting that Africans also need to have regional refineries.

"The role of the state in this is to facilitate this process. Some countries like Uganda already have their associations, these have to be strengthened to support the artisan miners," he said.

He said these investors start small with rudimentary tools, but if they get the market, it is quite expensive.

The assistant commissioner in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Vincent Kedi, said Africa has to package its geological and mineral resources in ways that attract responsible investors.

"We as Africans have to work and move together as a continent. We have what the world wants, and the world has what we want; let's have a meaningful partnership,"Kedi said.

Kedi said most of our investors in the mining sector are small scale and the local artisans here are being supported by their brothers and sisters in the diaspora.

Cynthia Mpanga from Standard Chartered Bank said there are massive opportunities in the mining sector, and that's a great opportunity for the banking sector.

"However, there are also several risks that banks have to assess.There are issues like lags in concluding decisions. These affect the general mining sector because there are many other industries involved,"she said.