Regional Mining Conference opens in Kigali

This Monday, Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente opened the East and Central Africa Mining Forum that is taking place in Kigali from 28th to 29th October 2019 under the theme of "Promoting Investment and Trade in Regional Minerals"

The two-day international conference on mining for countries in the east and central Africa will deliberate on, among other things, how mining can integrate technology in bid to increase productivity, preserving the environment and insuring safety for miners in addition to increasing value for Rwanda’s precious stones to give them more value on the international market.

The head of Rwanda miners association Jean Malic Kalima explained that they have high expectations from the conference as they will be sharing ideas and expertise with specialists from countries.

“The problem that we still mine using traditional means, many of the participants of this meeting include those that will exhibit new and modern machinery used in mining and also specialists with experience in research, all sectors will be represented. In all those countries, there will be representatives of buyers for minerals, machinery and also investors. We usually, go find investors abroad but this time they will come here and we shall have a chance to even show them what we do,” Kalima said. 

The Chief Executive Officer of Rwanda Mines and Petroleum Authority, Franci Gatare elaborated that this meeting would serve as a platform to attract investors and traders in minerals from different countries.

“This will not be a meeting people come to attend and leave, it was a meeting organized between us and them, basing on our idea of bringing many investors in the country for us to show them our mining sector for potential partnership with local miners. We want investors to share their equity with locals to boost their projects with no loans, that’s why we have invested in these mineral factories in the country, that will add value to our precious stones that are exported but also increase our revenue,” Gatare said. 

The conference on mining for east and central African countries will be attended by more than 600 people including buyers, traders, experts, researchers in minerals from 40 countries.