The Ministry of Mines (MoM)is one of the Federal Ministries which is given the responsibility of theproper development of the mining sector.The role of the Ministry ismainly to generate the basic geoscience data of the country, to promote themineral and petroleum potentials of the country, to negotiate and issuelicenses to the private investors and ensure that they conduct mineral andpetroleum operations in accordance with their concession agreements.
The exploration for theassessment of the mineral and petroleum resources has been carried out both bythe Ethiopian Geological Survey and private companies. These geologicalstudies have come up with significant discoveries of gold, tantalum,phosphorus, iron, salt, potash, soda ash, gemstones, coal, geothermal, naturalgas, other industrial and construction minerals/ rocks in different parts ofthe country.
Gold has been produced from placer deposits mainly by theartisanal miners for several thousandyears. There is a large scale primarygold mining operation at Lega Dembi and Sakaro which produces about 5 tons ofgold per annum. This gold mine, which is owned by the private company, occursin the southern part of the country hosted in the Southern Greenstone Belt.Nowadays significant and well defined orogenic gold and volcanogenic massivesulfide (VMS) deposits are also outlined by the private companies in the Western and NorthernGreenstone Belts of the country. There is a small scale tantalum mining operation,called Kenticha Tantalite mining, hosted in the pegmatitic rocks of theSouthern Greenstone Belt. Huge industrial and construction raw materialsoccur in various rocks varying in age from Precambrian to Recent in differentparts of the country.
Ethiopia has a large potential for geothermal energy resource withseveral targets outlined within the East African Rift System. There arethree gas field discoveries, called Calub, Hilala and Genale gas fields inthe Ogaden Basin in the southeastern part of the country. These gas fieldscontain a total of about 4.6 TCF gas.
Themining industry in Ethiopia is dramatically growing with major involvement ofthe private sector.The investment policy of Ethiopia is generally established underthe principle and practices of a free market driven economy. Thegovernment has enacted a very competitive legal and fiscal regime thatattracted many local and foreign mining companies to involve in the mineraloperations starting from exploration to mining activities. These laws have beenamended so many times to make them more competitive.
Theinvestment in the mining sector is growing from time to time and accordinglyrevenue generation from this sector is also increasing. Thegovernment of Ethiopia is committed to manage all necessary revenues generatedfrom the mining sector in a transparent and accountable manner. These incomesshould be published officially and used transparently. Therefore, the wealththat can be generated from the mineral and petroleum resources will never be acurse rather a blessing for the development of the country.
Many foreign and some localcompanies have been granted reconnaissance, exploration and mining licenses forgold and base metals, cement and ceramic raw materials, potash, diatomite, otherindustrial and construction materials.
The mineral resources ofEthiopia are yet untouched and so the country has sufficient potential toaccommodate the interest of so many other investors. Therefore, the Ministrywould like to invite all interested companies to invest in the mining industryof Ethiopia for the mutual benefit!!
Mr. Tolesa Shagui,
Ministerof the Ministry of Mines of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia