Gold mining activities at the Mugobwa–Katuugo gold mine in Kassanda District have been suspended after police enforcing mineral resource laws ordered miners to vacate the site.
According to a letter from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, those operating at the site had only been permitted to conduct exploration to confirm the existence of gold, not to mine or sell it—activities officials say were already taking place.
During a meeting held at the site, the Mineral Police led by Assistant Commissioner of Police and Head of the Mineral Protection Unit Julius Tusingwire informed miners about the directive.
“We are here to enforce a directive from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development to stop illegal mining activities taking place here under Exploration Licence 00459,” Tusingwire said.
Tusingwire explained that the licence allows only exploration for gold, yet operators had already begun full mining operations.
“That licence permits the holder to carry out exploration, but as you can observe there is deep mining and many other activities taking place here. The minister wrote to the Inspector General of Police seeking intervention to close the site, and we are here for that purpose together with the territorial police,” he added.
He directed that all mining activities stop immediately and gave workers several days to remove their equipment from the site.
“We have decided to talk to them and advise them to leave because there are many deep pits and underground operations that use oxygen. We cannot disconnect their generators abruptly, so we have given them a few days to vacate the site,” Tusingwire explained.
Tusingwire also warned miners against attempting to continue operations.
“Our technical team has been coming here and talking to them. If they choose to resist, we shall apply force,” he said.
“These operations are countrywide and we shall continue enforcing the law across the country, so those without licences should take this as a warning,” he added.
The decision has shocked many miners who say the mine had become their main source of income.
“We don’t know what will happen next because this has been our main source of income, and currently we cannot tell how we are going to survive,” some miners said.
A gold trader at the now-closed mine, Jovia Kabubo, said she sold personal property to invest in the business and now faces losses.
“I sold my land and cows from the village and came here to start a gold business, but now they have decided to close the mine. What are we going to do?” Kabubo asked.
The chairperson of the Mugobwa–Katuugo miners, Mukasa Kulugye, said the suspension has affected thousands of people who depended on the mining activity.
“We have more than 3,000 miners who have been benefiting from this mining activity, and now we cannot tell where they are going to go,” Mukasa said.
Mukasa said the miners had already received initial approvals during the first year of operations and called for dialogue with the ministry to find a solution.
“In less than one year we had applied and advanced to the small-scale stage, yet none of our neighbours has such a licence even in the whole of Uganda. We are wondering why they chose to close us,” he said.
He also accused authorities of selectively targeting their operation while other mines continue to operate.
“We have many gold mines around here operating without such licences, but no one is talking about them. The Chinese are here and other people too, but why target Mugobwa–Katuugo?” he added.
The mining site, which began operations in 2024, covers about 80 acres and is located in Bukuya Constituency.
