RMB Chief Executive Officer, Francis Gatare revealed this yesterday in a consultative meeting that brought together sector players including government institutions, business community and donors.
Gatare said that the good sector performance is attributed to the recovery of minerals price on international market and improved production from mining companies.
“Last year, mining sector contributed enough to the development of the country where it earned Rwanda a total of $370 million from exports. We target to increase mining earnings to $600 million this year,” he said.
“This is possible basing on measures that have been taken like raising mining production capacity and embracing modern mining practices,” he added.
Rwanda has been exporting wolfram, coltan and cassiterite and gemstones.
Gatare said that this year, they will invest in buying modern mining technolgies which will help double the production.
“The challenges this sector faces include poor technologies which only extract less than 40% of the real potential,” he explained.
The coordinator of Mining Companies in Northern Province, Placide Gaju told IGIHE that it is possible to raise the production capacity once they revised mining process.
“We lose big quantities of minerals along mining and separation processes. With the use of modern practices backed by polished skills, production will certainly soar,” he explained.
Last year, Rwanda exported a total of 7000 tonnes and this year target 10,000 tonnes. Rwanda targets $800 million from mining in 2020 and $1.5 billion in 2024.
Leave a Reply