Many people often get amused when they come across pure or gold coated products in jewelry shops. But I bet if anyone among the consumers and admirers, mostly window-shoppers, has ever bothered to know, how, who, where, plus any other thing concerning the mineral.
I just learnt that gold mining undergoes a series of very complex and challenging processes before the final products.
Due to its scarcity, it will take extreme patience, highly trained miners, and brave-hearts to go underground, sophisticated technology and a lot more.
However, these are some of the many reasons that make gold expensive. It is the same basis for which the dealers name the gold price. Like the saying goes ‘he who has gold, makes the price.’
Journey to the gold mine
I was among the 19 journalists from different media houses that visited to Mubende Gold Mines during on a study tour. It was courtesy of African Center for Media Excellence (ACME) in Bunga, Kampala.
It was a bright morning rise and shine about 8:28am when the van set off from ACME headquarters. The skies were bright, convincing our souls it will be a memorable tour. It was indeed impressive being my first time to reach anything called a mine.
We first reached Ssingo Artisanal and Small-scale Miners Association offices in Kitumbi Village and later proceeded to Mubende mines reaching at round 1:50pm.
Mubende district is one of the old districts known for growing maize and planting matooke. However, as years went by, different activities such as cattle keeping, and now mining, come into place attracting people from all walks of life.
Emmanuel Kibirige, Chairperson- Ssingo Artisanal and Small-scale mines Association, also one of the tour guide said the association has 32 workers who are committed to the mining activity.
In the gold caves
Kibirige led us to the Opita Mines Company, and handed us to Eng. Noor Tiiba. She divided us into 3 groups of 6 people. “Please don’t make noise down in the caves, and make sure we move in group.”
At this point we are clad in mining attire (red-helmets, reflector jackets and black gumboots) to proceed to the caves. It is already pitch black underground.
You can hardly see anything without strong light. The only source of light is a bright torch which must be carried by every journalist in their respective groups. The narrow passages to in the caves can only contain one person and the groups move in a line.
The visitors are warned about the high temperatures in the caves. It’s between 35 to 40 degrees centigrade. Drinking water is emphasized while in the cave to condense the heat.
Like any first time visitor, I was prayerful to God to forbid anything that may aggressively shake the caves with us inside. And the mind thought about earthquake.
Having heard several stories of minors buried in the caves or mines, my heart started beating like a subway train. Due to tension I barely concentrated and was only minding about time and praying the guide concluded in time before any eventuality.
Due to the unbearable heat, the first group took 10 minutes to inspect the cave before our turn came at 2:17pm. We found two men drilling inside the dark corners.
They were excited to see strangers eager to see how they did their work underground. The drills used to extract the gold have a water pipe used to cool the machines.
“The water released by the drill helps to soften the cave walls. Therefore the area becomes mud-spattered. That’s why we use gum-boots to walk through the mud.” Tiiba explained.
Identifying Gold
Tiiba further revealed that small orange-light strings are indicators of iron ores from where gold is got. To reach iron ore, she said the miners first drill holes measuring 6 by 7fts to weaken the rocks before it splits into iron ores.
After drilling ores, she added, workers take it outside the cave and use wheel barrows to put it where it’s sundried. “From here it goes through different processes including gold salanide process until when they got a final product.” she said, adding that it takes a lot of time and energy to get the gold.
At 4:20pm, she led us to meet Andrew ‘Mashe’ Matuska, a mine engineer with 36 years of experience. Matuska says the quantity and quality of Small-scale mining in Mubende proves that the place is gold potential and they are trying to negotiate with miners to use modernized technology to explore minerals from the ground.
Experts speaks out
According to Bwesigye Don Binyana, a mineral expert from Africa centre for Energy and mineral policy (ACEMP), gold miners in Mubende are facing a challenge of getting mineral license and also registering gold buyers from the mines.
He says the government is trying to table a proper market for gold so that Uganda compete favorably on market with countries such as India, and others.
He adds that since 90% of Uganda’s mining is at Artisanal stage, gold miners in Mubende should also have a special gold license because some of other mining licenses including, Retention, location license and others are usually granted to large scale miners with big companies.
“First come, first serve method of giving out mining license have attracted a big number of investors, whose investors are even less competent on the mining field.” he said.
Bwesigye said in 2001, Uganda had 190 mining licenses but currently over 900 licenses are registered, meaning the country is mineral rich.
Catherine Nkyakecho, a senior geologist from the Directorate of Geological Surveys and Mines said, some of the Industrial minerals such as sand, Clay, Kaoline, Silica, Soda, Granite, Metar ores and others have been neglected and they remains low valuable minerals in Uganda.
She said Karamoja District is estimated to have over 300 million tons of marble and this can be used in constructing houses.
She said 70% of annual royalty is from industrial minerals; 25% of women are involved in Mubende gold mining and over one million people are employed in both large scale and Artisanal small-scale mining in Uganda.
Mining license
David Ssebagala, the Senior Inspector of Mines in the ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, said over 80% of mining operation in Uganda are at exploration stage.
He explained that at such stage, damage to the environment is minimal but rarely people monitorize the damages the community is subjected to. He adds that 90% of Uganda’s mineral production is attributed to Artisanal and small-scale mining.
Cost of living
The cost of living is also high in mines, whereby they have to pay shs.100000 each month to rent a small-sized wooden house plus shortage of enough water in the area.
“We resorted to eating ‘Ekikomando’ because food is expensive here. During rainy season, water floods the area, and we have a fear of water borne diseases,” she stated.
Najjuko said they face a challenge of exorbitant money to buy food. A bunch of matooke ranges from shs.2500 to 3000 and they have to pay shs.5000 for electricity every day.
She says a plate of food (Matooke and flied beans) in mines costs shs.3000 and Ekikomando (Flied chapats and beans) costs shs.1500.
People Speak
Sarah Mangeni, says she joined gold buying in Mubende in 2014 when her parents gave her shs.3m to invest in gold buying. Since now, she attributes her success on gold. She has managed to buy 2-plots of land, setting up a women saloon and she eyes investing in a boutique next year.
Although gold mining is embraced by many in Mubende, some residents cry out for their land which was taken away and gazetted by miners.
Ann Nanseri, a mother of 6 children, said she was evicted from her one-acre land in Namulanda village by the mine proprietors without being compensated.
According to Denis Kusasira, managing partner ABMAK Associates, people affected in such situation are supposed to be paid money that is sufficient to replace the damages, or even re-establish themselves.
In addition Betty Najjuko, a fish monger said people are too congested in mines and they face a challenge of poor health facilities.
She added that they are challenged by poor sanitation because they have few toilets (3) of which one of them is almost full and people are now utilizing the caves left after mining to ease themselves.
However, Robinah Kyakuhaire, a Health Worker at the Mubende Gold Mines, said the birthrate around the mines has increased, putting too much pressure on the few available resources.