Ethiopia is endowed with precious and immense mineral resources. As Ethiopia is rich in mineral resources, the sector proves a viable means for the foundation of Ethiopia’s journey to prosperity. The mining sector can become the major source of foreign currency and as an instrument to accelerate the import substitution efforts of Ethiopia by supporting the industry, agriculture and other development sectors of the country.
Considering the available untapped potential of the resource and its significance for the overall economic development of Ethiopia, the mining sector becomes one of the five priority sectors of the Home Grown Economic Reform Agenda of the Ethiopian Government. Agriculture, industry, tourism, ICT and mining are the five priority sectors with the target of achieving prosperity by exploiting the available potential resources of the country in every sector.
To identify and use the potential of the mining sector so as to develop its valuable contribution for the development of Ethiopia, conducting researches and introducing technology in the sector is crucial. The sector needs researches to identify the minerals available in Ethiopia, to properly point out the specific locations and types of minerals in the specific places and to properly administer and use the resource.
In addition, to manage the environmental impacts during mineral extraction, it needs meaningful researches and scientific way of managing the process of extraction. Similarly, technology is vital for the mining sector both to identify the resource, to process it and to export value added products. The sector is technology intensive and developing and importing advanced technologies in the sector would facilitate the development of the mining sector in Ethiopia. In addition, to export value added products instead of raw products, introducing latest technologies is critically important.
Ethiopia has a long history of small scale mining based on extraction through traditional way. But, commercial and large scale mining is still in its early stages in Ethiopia, despite huge resource and significant potential for the country’s economy. Tantalum, potash, gemstones, gold, iron ore and various industrial, energy and construction minerals are few among the identified mineral resources in Ethiopia. Still, Ministry of Mines says that only less than 30 percent of Ethiopia’s mining resource is identified. The huge resource potential coupled with the current government’s policy measures is attracting international mining investors to invest in Ethiopia’s mining industry. And so far, over 170 international and local companies are engaged in the sector throughout the country, according to Ministry of Mines.
In this regard, Minister of Mines, Engineer Habtamu Tegegn said that Ethiopia is rich in mineral resources. Though, Ethiopia has a huge and untapped potential of mineral resource, the country is not benefited from the resource yet due to lack of attention during the past years, the Minister stated. According to Habtamu, less than 30 percent of the mineral resource of Ethiopia is known while the rest of potentially available mineral resources unidentified.
As to the Minister, as Ethiopia decides to use the potential of the sector for its development endeavors, the Government makes the sector among the top priority sectors of the country. As investment in the sector is technology intensive, it demands huge capital and takes long period, so far the investment in the sector was limited. Engineer Habtabu noted that “as the first step to develop and promote investments in the sector due attention is given by the government, the sector becomes a key sector in the Ethiopian macro economy.”
Last week, Ministry of Mines organized the second Mining and Technology Expo in Addis Ababa where a lot of local and international companies participated. Opening the expo, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) stated that Ethiopian Government is working to exploit the mining sector’s potential to facilitate the economic development of the country. Hence, promoting technology, researches and investments in the mining sector becomes a priority agenda, adding government’s readiness to provide all necessary supports for investors in the sector.
For his part, Habtamu said that until the 2018 reform, the mining sector was neglected sector as due to lack of attention by former governments. Due to lack of attention to the sector in the past, identifying and knowing the nation’s resources properly is still a challenge. But following the reform, the mining sector is one of the critical economic sectors given due priority it deserves.
To identify and know the country’s mineral resources properly and to exploit the available resource for the country’s economic development, promoting researches in the mining sector and introducing advanced technologies of the sector is vital. State Minister of Mines, Million Mathewos said that so far, some 170 companies are engaged in the exploration and development of mineral resources in Ethiopia. Adding, there is growing interest of foreign companies to engage in the mining sector following the recent reform measures by the government.
“To date, over 100 companies are actively engaged in mineral exploration across the country, while about 70 others are actively developing different mining projects transcending the exploration stage in minerals like gold, gas, iron, geothermal and others. This is huge,” Million told ENA. The income from the mining sector is also growing in Ethiopia as it attracts the attention of local and international investors. Supporting this growing sector through researches and technology would accelerate the sector’s development.
Habtamu promotes researchers to continue researches to identify mineral resources and to suggest scientific way of extracting the resource. As to him, without the strong support and researches of scholars, it is difficult to identify a resource, to exploit the potential and to properly use it. Hence, he advices researchers to intensify researches in the mining sector so to support the government’s ambition of exploiting the potential of the sector for the overall development efforts of the country. “The mining sector needs long-term and continuous researches to identify the resource and to use it properly without harming the environment and the society,” he stated.
In addition, as to Habtamu as a mineral resource is scarce by nature, it needs wise management to use it responsibility which makes scientific researches crucial. Hence, to identify and know the mineral resources of the country and for wise management for sustainable use, it is important to support the sector through researches.
Similarly, as the sector is technology intensive, it is important to give due focus for the technological developments in the sector. “The sector is technology intensive which uses huge machineries and technological advancements. Importing advanced technologies or attracting foreign companies with latest technologies to invest in the sector is import to extract and exploit the resource properly,” he noted.
Without technology, it is difficult to properly extract and develop the sector. Technology is helpful not for proper extraction of mines but also to manage the environmental consequences of mining. For the development of value added export in the sector, promoting the development of technology in the sector is vital. To keep environmental safety and societal health while extracting minerals, Habtamu said that importing latest technological advancements in the sector is crucial.
According to the Minister, investment in the sector is capital intensive that mobilizes huge capital and needs long-term investment. Due to this reason, an investment in the mining sector is not easy for individual investors and he advises investors to use joint investments. Reminding that Ethiopia is on the way to start stock-market, he recommends investors to think investments in the mining industry through stock.
“The investment in the sector needs billions of dollars, it is not easy to manage by individual investors due to its capital and time intensiveness,” Habtamu stated adding “due to capital intensiveness of the sector, though the potential is there and the presence of a huge demands at home, there is no even a single fertilizer factory in Ethiopia.” He promotes local and international investors to invest in the rising mining sector of Ethiopia with an ample potential.
BY DARGIE KAHSAY
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 1 DECEMBER 2023
