EARNINGS FROM RWANDA MINERAL SECTOR GROW BY 40%

Earnings for Rwanda’s mineral sector are looking up after prices for Rwanda’s second most important mineral export by revenues, tin, shot up by 40 per cent on the London Metal Exchange.

Prices for tin rose from $13,000 per tonne at the end of October to $21,000 per tonne in November, a trend that has held through the first two weeks of December, raising hopes for an industry that has endured a steady decline in revenues for the past three years in a row.

Prices for tin had fallen by 38 per cent over the past three years, while prices for coltan and wolfram had fallen by 25 per cent and 22 per cent respectively bringing down $226 million in 2013 to $149 million last year.

This year, Rwanda expects $152 million from mineral revenues, representing a slight increase from $149 million collected in 2015, according to projections from the ministry of natural resources.

The increase is partly attributed to the exportation of new minerals like iron ore, gold and gemstones, which have supplemented the country’s principal minerals of tin, coltan and wolfram — whose prices have been in decline for a while now.

“Price fluctuation is a real big problem, and that is why we are now looking at value addition. We are in the process of acquiring a certificate for smelting conflict-free minerals at our Karuruma smelter. This will enable us to increase production of processed minerals which fetch more on the international market,” minister of natural resources, Vincent Biruta, said Wednesday.

After a long period of hardships, companies are now beginning to readjust in order to have their share while conducive prices last.

“I had a workforce of about 3,000 people but I had to reduce that significantly over the years because of the bad prices for minerals. And this happened to investors across the sector, but this is now the time to readjust and gain from this development,” Jean Malik Kalima, owner of Wolfram and Mineral Processing Ltd and chairperson of Rwanda Mining association said.

With the country looking to earn $400 million (Rwf324 billion) from mineral exports by 2018, the government has set out a strategy to increase the sector’s efficiency and productivity by weeding out “unserious investors.”

Last week, the ministry signed mining agreements with 17 companies, following a directive from the Cabinet last month which approved quarry and mining licenses for up to 37 companies.

The government is now in the process of re-evaluating all the 582 companies and co-operatives operating in the country, with those under performing in danger of having their licenses revoked or not renewed.

“There are some companies whose applications were not approved. We realised that they do not understand the nature of the business or do not have the minimum requirements,” Vincent Biruta minister for natural resources said.

“We are in the process of cleaning the sector of unserious players who get licences for large mining concessions but end up doing nothing. We will have to revoke or deny renewal of those licences and offer them to others who can invest in the sector for to grow.”

Africa Review