Uganda is no doubt one of the richest African countries, in terms of agriculture, fisheries, forestry, oil and gas, renewable energy to the mining industries. But since the departure of our colonial masters in the 1960s, the mineral sector has been the worst performing economic sector and least contributor to our GDP, posting a trifling average of less than 0.05 per cent in the last 10 years according to statistics from UBOS.
However our mining industry can be rejuvenated by taking some lessons from South Africa. In South Africa the exploitation of the region’s mineral resource base dates back to at least about 41 250 BC when late Stone Age populations began quarrying the rich haematite – the mineral form of iron oxide – deposits of Lion Cavern in north-west Swaziland, as a source of red ochre, which they used for cosmetic and ritualistic purposes.
The era of modern commercial mining in South Africa has its roots in the copper-rich region of Namaqualand in the Northern Cape. The first mine was established on the farm Springbokfontein – the site of the town of Springbok – in 1852. Although much of the copper mining activity has ceased, the area is still littered with old mining relics, and one may also visit the Mine Museum at Nababeep.
The discovery of the 21¼ carat Eureka diamond in late 1866 and then the 83½ carat Star of South Africa in 1869 sparked the country’s first great mineral rush, with more than five thousand diggers rushing first to the Vaal River and then Kimberley.
While the history of gold mining is often presumed to postdate that of diamonds, the precious metal was, in fact, discovered, and the first mine established, at roughly the same time as the diamond rush. It was in the closing months of 1870 that gold was discovered on the farm Eersteling, approximately 40km south-east of Polokwane.
Discovered in February 1886 and pioneered by organised diamond mining capital, the Witwatersrand gold-mining industry developed at an unparalleled rate despite numerous challenges, including the considerable depth and pyritic nature of the conglomerate reefs, the very low grade of the resource, the high costs of production, and the enormous labour requirements of the mines.
While it is true to say that the success of South Africa’s modern economy was underpinned by the growth of the gold- and diamond-mining sectors, the industrialisation of the economy could not have been achieved without coal and iron ore.
It was the exploitation of the country’s vast iron-ore resources in the North West and Northern Cape provinces and the establishment of a state-controlled iron and steel industry in the 1920s that facilitated the growth of a secondary industry and enabled South Africa to develop into the most industrially self-sufficient country in Africa.
