While gold is often considered a scarce asset, Uganda explained on Wednesday that recently conducted exploration surveys indicate that there’s roughly 31 million metric tons of gold ore waiting to be mined in the region. Moreover, a spokesperson from Uganda’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development said there’s an estimated 320,158 tonnes of refined gold available.
Uganda Claims the Country Has 31 Million Tonnes of Gold Ore — 320,158 Metric Tons of Refined Gold Is up for Prospect
In the five last years, fine gold’s value has grown by 48% relative to the U.S. dollars. An ounce of gold’s spot market value tapped an all-time high this year at $2,060 per unit.
A ounce is worth $1,840 and spot prices have risen by 0.48% in the past thirty days. Reports from Uganda indicate that the country is looking for miners and investors to invest in gold ore.
Solomon Muyita from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development spoke out to Reuters on Wednesday. He said that they have found 31,000,000 tonnes of ore through a variety of surveys carried out across the territory.
A spokesperson also noted that refined gold of 320,158 tons could be extracted immediately. Wagagai Mining in China is planning to start mining in this area. Wagagai has just received its gold production licence in March 2022. It also set up a 21 year mining lease with the Busia District in the eastern part of Uganda.
Muyita claimed that the majority of the ore came from Karamoja in Busia District. It was also found in central and west areas. Wagagai is set up in Mawero Parish, Butebo sub-county, and it is estimated that there’s 12.5 metric tons of mineable refined gold at the location.
China’s Wagagai Mining to Start Production Soon — Surprise Deposits Discovered Every Year
Muyita noted that Wagagai’s production will begin in this year. The company had already invested $200 million towards the building of the refinery station. Now gold’s scarcity, however, also stems from the difficulty of mining the ore, and while Muyita claims there’s 320,158 metric tons of gold, there’s only 2,500 to 3,000 mined each year.
Moreover, South Africa is the world’s largest producer and but there’s also significant gold mining happening in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Russia, and China. The precious metal’s scarcity proposition however is constantly put to the test by surprise ore deposits found worldwide.
For instance, at the end of October 2020, Bitcoin.com’s newsdesk reported on a surprise find of approximately 40 million troy ounces of gold in Russia’s Siberian region. Massive gold deposits were discovered in Silesia, an area in Central Europe that was once called Silesia. It is located in Poland.
In March 2021, a Yemeni freelance journalist based in the capital Sana’a, Ahmad Algohbary, reportedA massive mountain of gold was discovered in Congo. The reports said the Congo mountain was rich in gold, but that there were no estimates of how much. However, it was claimed that gold was being stolen by artisans.
Smuggling gold is very prominent in Africa according to a United Nations (UN) report that says production in the Congo region “continues to be systematically underreported.” This means that while statistics say there’s only 2,500 to 3,000 metric tons mined each year, a significant amount of mined gold may be entering the market that’s not being reported.
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Images CreditsShutterstock. Pixabay. Wiki Commons. NTV Uganda. The Independent.
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