MPs are investigating the cancellation of the Chinese mining company’s contract

Parliament’s Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources has begun investigating how the operations of the Tibet Hima Mining Company in Kasese District, Western Uganda, were suspended.

Early this month, the Minister of Privatization and Investment, Mrs. Evelyn Anite, announced that Uganda had terminated its contract with Tibet-Hima, the concessionaire for the Kilembe mines, following demands from the Chinese investor to mine 30,000 tonnes of gold, copper and export. and cobalt as samples for testing in China.
Anite made these comments when she appeared before the committee where she was called to explain the slow progress in reviving the Kilembe mines in Kasese District.

“This contractor demanded that the government allow him to take 30,000 tons of copper, cobalt and gold just for sampling. It was unreasonable for the contractor to think that we would allow such a significant portion of our natural resources to leave the country,” Anite explains.
As a result, the committee members led by their Chairman, Mr. Herbert Edmund Ariko, visited the Chinese company on Tuesday.

At the time of the cancellation, the company, which had a 25-year concession with the government of Uganda to extract copper and other minerals around the Kilembe mines, had been operating for approximately 18 months.
The owners say they have injected over Shs690 billion for the purchase of equipment and rehabilitation of the mines that opened in the early 1950s.
They are now trying to become operational again, despite legal battles in court.

Mr Ariko said they are in Kilembe to investigate the matter so that their report comes out objectively before it is tabled in Parliament.
The other members of the committee, including Muhamad Ssentaayi of Bukoto Central, Ssemwanga Gyaviira of Buyamba County, and Geoffrey Feta, the committee’s vice chairman, said they had seen significant investments by Tibet, but their report would contain the details.

Meanwhile, Mr Ronald Evans Kanyike, Member of Parliament for Bukoto East and Charles Tebandeke of Bbaale County, said the Tibet and Kilembe issue should be handled with care as it affects people’s livelihood but also an issue involving investors, who care must be worn. .

The committee will meet with the leadership of Kasese District and the warring parties to try to find a lasting solution, which has brought operations of the Kilembe mines to a standstill, resulting in loss of revenue.

Origins of parliamentary probe
The parliamentary investigation was launched following a petition by Solomon Silwany (Bukooli Central) in April 2024, requesting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the termination of Tibet-Hima Mining Company’s contract to operate the Kilembe mines during to manage, rehabilitate and operate for 25 years.
According to Silwany, the government has failed to fulfill its obligations under the agreement, causing Tibet-Hima Mining Company to suffer losses of US$980 million (US$3.581 trillion) between 2014 and 2017.

Silwany told Parliament: “The petitioner paid Shs4.2 billion to the government, directly employed 822 Ugandans, purchased equipment worth $22 million (Shs80.411 billion) and committed $183.5 million (Shs676.187 billion) to future investments in resuming copper ore production. of the Kilembe mines.”

Tibet-Hima Ltd cited several grievances against the Ugandan government, including the inability to transfer the site of the Kilembe mines within nine months of signing the contract and the government’s decision to shorten the concession period from 25 to 15 years shortening, which ultimately led to contract termination despite Tibet-Hima’s preparations for mining activities, including upgrading operational facilities and dewatering underground mines.