German firm samples possible areas of mining

Beak Consultant, a Germany mining company, has presented their survey report to Rwanda’s Ministry Natural Resources in Kigali, on four potential mining areas in Rwanda.The report includes a comprehensive evaluation of geochemical, geological and geophysical data, supported by Beak’s advantage of software, will help generate drilling targets and will be offered to both national and international mining community for further exploration,” the Director General of Rwanda’s Natural Resources Authority (NRA) Dr. Emmanuel Nkurunziza, told Xinhua. “It is extremely important for us to have good and dependable geological data to attract investors as it also reduces risks for government and interested investors”, added Dr. Nkurunziza in an interview.The survey report comes about year after Beak signed a contract with the government to carry out a research program to sample selected areas in the districts of Muhanga and Musebeya in Rwanda’s Southern Province, as well as the districts of Nyagatare and Kirehe in the Eastern Province.According to Dr Nkurunziza, the government spent Rwf 1.8 billion (US $1 = Rwf 600) on the survey of the four areas and that “Beak will work with the Council for Geosciences (a Geological Survey of the Republic of South Africa) to train and transfer knowledge to Rwandans so as to enhance the technical capacity of the geological Authority of the country”.Previous studies suggested that Rwanda has untapped potential for rare mineral resources such as tantalum, which is believed to be located in the four areas that were surveyed, while other target mineral include tin, tungsten, niobium lithium gold and rare earth.Statistics from Rwanda’s Ministry of Natural Resources show that cassiterite, coltan and wolframite still dominate Rwanda’s mining sector, in that in 2011 minerals fetched US$ 151.4million, up to US$ 96.4 million in 2010 surpassing the target of US$ 150 million and representing 39.1 percent of the total export earnings; while targeting US$ 180 million this year. Beak Consultants are also currently engaged in geological projects in other African countries like Namibia, Ghana, Ethiopia, South Africa, Morocco, Uganda Tanzania and Senegal.

National

German firm samples possible areas of mining