Illegal miners will be fined Shs2bn and jailed 10years if found guilty of mining minerals without licence from Government, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has proposed.
This is contained in The Mining and Minerals Bill 2021 that was tabled before Parliament and sent to Environment and Natural Resources Committee for scrutiny.
The Bill is intended is to reform and strengthen the legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks to cater for emerging issues arising in the minerals subsector which include: mineral certification. value addition, mineral revenue management and the formalisation of artisanal and small scale miners.
Government defended the introduction of the Mining and Minerals Bill 2021 arguing that The Mining Act 2003 has been in force for the last fifteen years during which time the mineral subsector has undergone various transformations, changes and challenges.
Clause 10 of the proposed legislation speaks of plans to prohibit mining activities without authorisation with the legislation stipulating; (l) A person shall not conduct prospecting, exploration, mining, processing, refining or other beneficiation operation under Uganda’s jurisdiction without an authorisation, licence, lease, permit or approval in accordance with this Act.
Clause 10(2) os the Bill seeks to give powers to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development to prohibit mining operations in the interest of security, public safety, environmental protection or national economic development.
Government is seeking to criminalise illegal mining proposing in clause 10(3); A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable, on conviction- (a) in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand currency points equivalent to Shs2bn or imprisonment not exceeding ten years or both.
However, in the case of a body corporate, a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand currency points equivalent to Shs2Bn will be imposed, although there is no prison sentence proposed on the owners of the company.
Further, clause 10(4) seeks to give the Minister of Energy powers to impose more stringent punishment and in addition to any penalty imposed by court, the illegal miner mat be banned from obtaining a licence or authorisation in Uganda for a period of five years.
Clause 11 of the bill deals with the acquisition of mineral right where; a person may acquire the right to prospect, explore for, retain, mine, process, refine, smelt, fabricate or dispose of any mineral in Uganda by acquiring such right under and in accordance with this Act.
Clause 11(3) stipulates; A person shall not prospect, explore for, retain, mine, process, refine, smelt, fabricate or dispose of any mineral in Uganda except under and in accordance with a licence issued under this Act.
Government is proposing in clause 11(5) that; Any person who contravenes subsection (2) commits an offence and is liable, on conviction- (a) in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding ten thousand currency points equivalent to Shs200M or imprisonment not exceeding three years or both.
And clause 11(5)(b) in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand currency points equal to Shs2bn and in clause 11(6) where a person is convicted of an offence under subsection (5), the court before which such person is convicted may order the convict to forfeiture of all minerals unlawfully obtained.
In the event that the minerals cannot for any reason be forfeited, order the forfeiture of such sums of money as the court shall determine as the reasonable value of the minerals, and any minerals or their value so forfeited shall become the property of the Government.
