The Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RMB) is carrying out research to know estimated deposits of minerals, including gold, available in different parts of the country, a move that will generate data that investors can use to get loans from financial institutions.

The three-year research started with the current fiscal year which began in July 2023, with a budget of Rwf3 billion, according to information shared on January 10 by RMB officials. The available budget is for the fiscal year 2023/2024.

This was revealed in a session in which the Board's officials appeared before the Lower House’s Committee on Political Affairs and Gender to provide responses to issues highlighted in the Office of Ombudsman’s report for the fiscal year 2022/2023.

RMB Chief Executive Officer Yamina Karitanyi said the research is intended to de-risk the mining sector, but pointed out that investors with mining concessions will still have to carry out detailed feasibility studies to indicate accurate amount of minerals which she said involves a lot of money.

"What the government decided is de-risking the sector, by taking the responsibility to carry out in-depth research which can make an investor utilise the data the government has obtained and then use it for feasibility study which can make a bank accept to grant them a significant loan,” she said.

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Karitanyi said RMB's research intends to gather data countrywide and know the contents of licences that are given to mining companies (for given mining concessions).

"The data we get from research enables us to effectively negotiate what we want an investor to bring in, the money they should invest and the expected yields. It also helps us in long-term planning,” she observed.

The move, she said, could help investors to get the required finance to modernise operations and get better yields compared to the current situation where artisanal practices are dominant.

Currently, she said the research, which started in 2023, is being conducted to know the amount of lithium, which she described as a much sought after mineral nowadays, as well as the quantity of gold available in the country (in its first fiscal year, which is 2023/2024).

RMB Chief Financial Officer Innocent Safari said that so far, Rwandans do not have enough means to carry out research to the level of determining the quantity of minerals their mines hold, and how much money they are worth, in a way that is approved by a qualified expert – such that it becomes a document recognised by a bank.

Given that research is risky as one might find what they are looking for or not, the government intervened to conduct studies to the level of determining inferred mineral resources – referring to estimated quantity, grade, and quality of minerals, but with a limited level of confidence.

He said that research on minerals in the country actively started in 1968, indicating that areas which hold different minerals in the country are known.

For instance, he said that in the northern part of Rwanda, from Warufu river to Miyove (in in Gicumbi District), to Musanze District, there is a gold belt.

Another gold deposit is found in the area stretching from Nyungwe (forest), to Nyamasheke District, to Karongi District, he indicated.

The three-year in-depth research that RMB embarked on, he said, bases on the general research that was conducted before, considers the potential areas and does in-depth esploration through drilling, "which enables us to determine the inferred [mineral] resources.

"In this fiscal year [2023/2024, which will end on June 30, 2024], we are going to do 200 metre-drilling in Miyove to explore gold, and in Musenyi (Bugesera),” he said, indicating that the drilling was informed by the fact that previous studies showed that such areas have mineral potential.

As minerals are estimated to be distributed unevenly across Rwanda’s territory, and at varying depths, RMB indicated that knowing their amount requires carrying out many drills in an area with mineral potential.

Drilling helps take a sample which is then taken to a laboratory that tests the mineral content at a given depth.

Under the aforementioned project, the government will do some drills, but investors will have to do more to reach an adequate level of confidence.

Rwanda’s mining sector generated $851.6 million (approx. Rwf1 trillion) in export revenues from January to September 2023 representing an increase of 45.6 per cent compared to $584.8 million recorded during the same period in 2022.

Though statistics for the entire 2023 mineral export performance are not yet published, the sector could reach $1 billion mark, while the target is to earn $1.5 billion in 2024, according to RMB.