KCB Bank Uganda has called for increased investment and financing across the country’s mineral value chain, saying access to capital will be important if Uganda is to move beyond mineral extraction and capture more value through processing and manufacturing.
The call was made during the 15th Annual Mineral Wealth Conference, held Sept. 29-30, 2026, at Speke Resort Munyonyo under the theme “Beneath the Surface: Unlocking Africa’s Next Mining Powerhouse.” The conference brought together more than 1,500 delegates, 50 speakers, 55 exhibitors, 15 ministers and more than 500 CEOs, according to the conference organisers.
The discussions focused on investment, financing, policy and partnerships needed to develop Uganda’s mining industry and expand activity beyond extraction.
Minister of State for Energy Sidronius Okaasai Opolot said Uganda’s mineral resources could support industrial growth if investment covered the full value chain.
“Uganda’s mineral resources could drive industrial growth if investment extends beyond extraction to the entire value chain.”
“Our focus, therefore, must be developing the entire value chain of our minerals, from exploration and mining, to processing, beneficiation, refining, manufacturing, and other downstream industries,” Okaasai said.
“The objective is to move from mineral potential to productive investment. We want to get the industries here, while ensuring that Uganda captures greater value from its mineral resources.”
The government has increasingly emphasised mineral beneficiation and local processing as part of efforts to increase the economic contribution of the sector. Okaasai has also called on investors to participate across the mineral value chain rather than focusing only on extraction.
Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Jonard Asiimwe Akiiki said local processing could create additional industrial activity around Uganda’s mineral resources.
“There’s no country which can develop by exporting raw materials. That is just romanticising the economy,” Asiimwe stated.
“Once we move from raw materials to steel, machinery, vehicle parts, tools, and building systems, the value rises at every stage.”
Mineral output has increased
The call for more investment comes as official statistics show a sharp increase in Uganda’s mineral production.
Uganda Bureau of Statistics data shows that the value of minerals produced increased by 97.32%, from 145 billion shillings in 2022 to 286 billion shillings in 2023. The total quantity of minerals produced also increased by 43.12%, from about 1.42 million tonnes to 2.03 million tonnes over the same period.
The increase was driven largely by higher production of minerals including iron ore, limestone, kaolin, pozzolana, marble, dimension stone and syenitic aggregate. UBOS also recorded declines in production of several minerals, including gold, wolfram, lithium, granite and feldspar.
Government policy has focused on geological mapping, investment promotion, regulation, value addition and formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining.
At the conference, Timothy Wilkins Okanya, KCB Bank Uganda’s head of corporate banking, said financing remains a key link between mineral deposits and commercial production.
“The gap between what’s under the ground and what reaches the market is the financial gap,” Okanya said. “And that’s actually good news because financing gaps can be fixed.”
He said financial institutions could support businesses at different stages of the mineral value chain through working capital, trade finance, asset finance, supply-chain finance, guarantees and foreign exchange services.
Okanya also pointed to the formalisation of artisanal and small-scale miners as an area where financial institutions could play a role by helping operators enter the formal financial system.
“Every miner who enters the formal financial system becomes a potential business that we can support and finance as they grow,” Okanya noted.
KCB Group operates across seven markets in East and Central Africa, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The conference’s focus on financing reflects a wider challenge in developing the mining sector. Exploration companies need risk capital before deposits are proven commercially viable, while established operators require larger amounts of capital for equipment, production and processing facilities. Businesses further along the value chain may require working capital and trade-finance facilities.
For Uganda, the policy challenge is therefore not only how to increase mineral production, but how to build the processing, manufacturing, financial and supply-chain capacity around it. The government and industry stakeholders are seeking investment across those stages as the country attempts to retain more of the economic value generated from its mineral resources.
