The Ministry of Mines (MoM) is one of the Federal Ministries which is given the responsibility of the proper development of the mining sector. The role of the Ministry is mainly to generate the basic geoscience data of the country, to promote the mineral and petroleum potentials of the country, to negotiate and issue licenses to the private investors and ensure that they conduct mineral and petroleum operations in accordance with their concession agreements.

The exploration for the assessment of the mineral and petroleum resources has been carried out both by the Ethiopian Geological Survey and private companies. These geological studies have come up with significant discoveries of gold, tantalum, phosphorus, iron, salt, potash, soda ash, gemstones, coal, geothermal, natural gas, other industrial and construction minerals/ rocks in different parts of the country.

Gold has been produced from placer deposits mainly by the artisanal miners for several thousand years. There is a large scale primary gold mining operation at Lega Dembi and Sakaro which produces about 5 tons 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 Greenstone Belt. Nowadays significant and well defined orogenic gold and volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits are also outlined by the private companies in the Western and Northern Greenstone Belts of the country. There is a small scale tantalum mining operation, called Kenticha Tantalite mining, hosted in the pegmatitic rocks of the Southern Greenstone Belt. Huge industrial and construction raw materials occur in various rocks varying in age from Precambrian to Recent in different parts of the country.

Ethiopia has a large potential for geothermal energy resource with several targets outlined within the East African Rift System. There are three gas field discoveries, called Calub, Hilala and Genale gas fields in the Ogaden Basin in the southeastern part of the country. These gas fields contain a total of about 4.6 TCF gas.

The mining industry in Ethiopia is dramatically growing with major involvement of the private sector. The investment policy of Ethiopia is generally established under the principle and practices of a free market driven economy. The government has enacted a very competitive legal and fiscal regime that attracted many local and foreign mining companies to involve in the mineral operations starting from exploration to mining activities. These laws have been amended so many times to make them more competitive.

The investment in the mining sector is growing from time to time and accordingly revenue generation from this sector is also increasing. The government of Ethiopia is committed to manage all necessary revenues generated from the mining sector in a transparent and accountable manner. These incomes should be published officially and used transparently. Therefore, the wealth that can be generated from the mineral and petroleum resources will never be a curse rather a blessing for the development of the country. 

Many foreign and some local companies have been granted reconnaissance, exploration and mining licenses for gold and base metals, cement and ceramic raw materials, potash, diatomite, other industrial and construction materials.

The mineral resources of Ethiopia are yet untouched and so the country has sufficient potential to accommodate the interest of so many other investors. Therefore, the Ministry would like to invite all interested companies to invest in the mining industry of Ethiopia for the mutual benefit!!

Mrs. Sinkinesh Ejigu,