Several families in the Districts of Namayingo, Mayuge and Iganga are in panic over the discovery of rare minerals in their areas.
A source from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development confirmed to Eyewitness24 that there is a high proportion of magnet and heavy rare earths in the three districts and that thousands of families will be resettled to pave way for mining.
The source added that the rare earths include a near-perfect split of magnet rare earths Nd, Pr, Dy and Tb, required for developing the high intensity permanent magnets required for EVs and offshore wind turbines.
The communities said that several people keep coming to their communities with gadgets and they are afraid because the government has never engaged them.
“We are told that we’re sitting on a lot of minerals and that the Government will compensate us and we leave but we have not gotten any clear message from Government other than seeing government cars coming with white people and gadgets in our communities, we deserve to be told exactly what is going on,” 52-year old Abbasa Nantamu said.
Busoga sub-region is one of the most impoverished regions in the country with some leaders blaming the growing of sugarcane as the primary cause of the poverty.
“In Busoga, we have more than 8 sugar factories and these factories have taken the lion’s share of the arable land for sugarcane which has caused extreme poverty in our area because the money earned from sugarcane growing is so little,” said Banuli Kisambira, a local leader in Iganga.
