TheMinistry of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoMPNG) is one of the FederalMinistries which is given the responsibility of the proper development of themining sector. The role of the Ministry is mainly to generate thebasic geosciences data of the country, to promote the mineral and petroleumpotentials of the country, to negotiate and issue licenses to the privateinvestors and ensure that they conduct mineral and petroleum operations inaccordance with their concession agreements.
The exploration forthe assessment of the mineral and petroleum resources has been carried out bothby the 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, natural gas, other industrial andconstruction minerals/ rocks in different parts of the country.
Gold has been produced from placer deposits mainly by theartisanal miners for several thousand years. There is a large scaleprimary gold mining operation at Lega Dembi and Sakaro which produces about 5tons of gold per annum. This gold mine, which is owned by the private company,occurs in the southern part of the country hosted in the Southern GreenstoneBelt. Nowadays significant and well defined orogenic gold and volcanogenicmassive sulfide (VMS) deposits are also outlined by the private companies inthe Western and Northern Greenstone Belts of the country. There is asmall scale tantalum mining operation, called Kenticha Tantalite mining, hostedin the pegmatite rocks of the Southern Greenstone Belt. Huge industrialand construction raw materials occur in various rocks varying in age fromPrecambrian to Recent in different parts of the country.
Ethiopia has a large potential for geothermal energy resource withseveral targets outlined within the East African Rift System. There are threegas field discoveries, called Calub, Hilala and Genale gas fields in theOgaden Basin, in the southeastern part of the country. These gas fieldscontain a total of about 4.6 TCF gas.
The mining industry in Ethiopia isdramatically growing with major involvement of the private sector.The investment policy of Ethiopia is generally established under the principleand practices of a free market driven economy. The government hasenacted a very competitive legal and fiscal regime that attracted many localand foreign mining companies to involve in the mineral operations starting fromexploration to mining activities. These laws have been amended so many times tomake them more competitive.
The investment in the mining sector isgrowing from time to time and accordingly revenue generation from this sectoris also increasing. The government of Ethiopia is committed to manage all necessaryrevenues generated from the mining sector in a transparent and accountablemanner. These incomes should be published officially and used transparently.Therefore, the wealth that can be generated from the mineral and petroleumresources will never be accurse rather a blessing for the development of thecountry.
Manyforeign and some local companies have been granted reconnaissance, explorationand mining licenses for gold and base metals, cement and ceramicraw materials, potash, diatomite, other industrial and construction materials.
Themineral resources of Ethiopia are yet untouched and so the country hassufficient potential to accommodate the interest of so many other investors.Therefore, the Ministry would like to invite all interested companies to investin the mining industry of Ethiopia for the mutual benefit!!
Mr. Tolesa Shagi,
Minister of theMinistry of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas of the Federal Democratic Republicof Ethiopia