Minister's Message
The Ministry of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas(MoMPNG) is one of the Federal Ministries which is given theresponsibility of the proper development of mining, petroleum andnatural gas resources. The role of the Ministry is mainly to generate thebasic geosciences data of the country, to promote the mineral, petroleumand natural gas potentials of the country, to negotiate and issue licenses tothe private investors and ensure that they conduct mineral and petroleumoperations in accordance with their concession agreements. Ethiopia has anambitious target for enabling the mining sector contributes 10 percent of theGDP by 2025.
The exploration for the assessment of themineral and petroleum resources has been carried out both by the EthiopianGeological Survey and private companies. These geological studies havecome up with significant discoveries of gold, tantalum, phosphorus, iron, salt,potash, soda ash, gemstones, coal, geothermal, natural gas, other industrialand construction minerals/ rocks in different parts of the country.
Gold has been produced from placer depositsmainly by the artisanal miners for several thousand years. There is also alarge scale primary gold mining operation at Lega-Dembi and Sakaro, whichproduces about 5 tons of gold per annum. This gold mine, which is owned by theprivate company, occurs in the southern part of the country hosted in theSouthern Greenstone Belt. Nowadays significant and well defined organic goldand volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits are also outlined by theprivate companies in the Western and Northern Greenstone Belts of the country.There is a small scale tantalum mining operation, called Kenticha Tantalitemining, hosted in the pegmatite rocks of the Southern Greenstone Belt. Hugeindustrial and construction raw materials occur in various rocks varying in agefrom Precambrian to Recent in different parts of the country.
Ethiopia has a large potential for geothermalenergy resource with several targets outlined within the East African RiftSystem. There are three gas field discoveries, called Calub, Hilala and Genalegas fields in the Ogaden Basin in the South Eastern part of the country. Thesegas fields contain a total of about 4.6 TCF gas.
The mining industry in Ethiopia is dramaticallygrowing with major involvement of the private sector. The investmentpolicy of Ethiopia is generally established under the principle and practicesof a free market driven economy. The government has enacted a very competitivelegal and fiscal regime that attracted many local and foreign mining companiesto involve in the mineral operations starting from exploration to miningactivities. These laws have been amended so many times to make them morecompetitive and to create more conducive environment to invest in the sector.
The investment in the mining sector is growingfrom time to time and accordingly revenue generation from this sector is alsoincreasing. The government of Ethiopia is committed to manage allnecessary revenues generated from the mining sector in a transparent andaccountable manner. These incomes should be published officially and usedtransparently. Therefore, the wealth that can be generated from the mineral andpetroleum resources will contribute more for the development of the country.
Many foreign and some local companies have beengranted reconnaissance, exploration and mining licenses for gold and basemetals, cement and ceramic raw materials, potash, diatomite, other industrialand construction materials.
The mineral resources of Ethiopia are yet untouchedand so the country has sufficient potential to accommodate the interest of somany other investors. Therefore, the Ministry would like to invite allinterested companies to invest in the mining industry of Ethiopia for themutual benefit!!
Mr. Motuma Mekassa
Minister, Ministry ofMines, Petroleum and Natural Gas of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia