Museveni Hails Uganda’s Growing Gold Refining Industry as 10 Licensed Refineries Add Local Value

Uganda’s gold refining industry is steadily expanding, with the country now having 10 licensed gold refineries that process gold locally to a purity level of 99.9 per cent. The growth marks an important step in the government’s push to move away from exporting raw minerals and instead focus on local value addition.

President Yoweri Museveni recently highlighted the sector’s progress, saying Uganda is beginning to fully benefit from refining its own gold rather than sending it abroad in raw form. He said one of the licensed refiners, Feldstein Co. Ltd., based in Kampala, is refining gold to 99.9 per cent purity and is also expanding with another facility under construction in Morulem, Abim District.

“In the picture, I am with Mr Cohen Carlos, who owns Feldstein Co. Ltd., a gold refinery in Kampala. It refines Uganda’s gold to a purity level of 99.9%, which recently earned USD 173,000 per kilogram. On account of the war in the Gulf of Persia, the price is now USD 129,000,” Museveni said.

He added that the gold he was holding in the photo, weighing one and a half kilograms, came from Ibanda District. He used the moment to describe what he called a new chapter in Uganda’s mineral sector.

“This particular one and a half kilograms of gold that I am holding is from Ibanda. Mr Cohen is building another refinery in Morulem, Abim. Uganda is waking up. We have 10 licensed gold refineries in Uganda,” Museveni said.

One of the notable changes in the sector is that locally refined gold bars are now being branded with the official Bank of Uganda logo, a sign of growing formalisation and confidence in Uganda’s domestic gold value chain.

The progress comes as the government continues to encourage local refining and domestic processing of minerals as a way of creating jobs, keeping more value within the economy, and strengthening Uganda’s position in regional and international mineral trade.

However, the sector is also facing the effects of global market shifts. Museveni noted that international gold prices have recently fallen from about USD 173,000 per kilogram to USD 129,000 per kilogram, attributing the decline to the ongoing conflict in the Gulf region.

Even with the price fluctuations, Uganda’s growing refining capacity signals a major shift in the country’s mining and mineral economy. With more licensed refineries, new facilities under development, and a stronger emphasis on domestic processing, the gold sector is becoming one of the areas where Uganda is moving from raw extraction to industrial value addition.

For Uganda, the message from these developments is clear: the country wants to refine more of its minerals at home, retain more value within its borders, and build an industry that contributes more directly to national growth.