Mineral prospecting project in Rwanda successfully completed
Final report presented

17th July 2013, Kigali (Rwanda)

          

On 17th July, Beak Consultants GmbH (Germany) and Council for Geoscience (South Africa) have presented the Final Report on “Consulting Services to Carry out Surveys of Mineral Potential Target Areas (PTA) Recently Identified in Rwanda” to the Ministry of Natural Resources (MINIRENA) / Natural Resources Authority (RNRA).

The 1 ½ year project was implemented to further evaluate the potential for the development of a national mining industry and attract international investment to the country. Within the four PTA`s of Kibungo, Nyagatare, Gitarama and Nyabisindu, an area of 2,200 km² has been geologically mapped, a total of 4,276 samples have been taken, and one hundred kilometres of ground geophysical lines have been surveyed. The investigations have been summarised in new metallogenic maps describing the mineral prospectivity of the surveyed area. The most important discovery of the project is the base metal potential of several areas. Important geochemical anomalies of metals such as copper, zinc, lead, cobalt and tungsten have been outlined. Hard rock sampling confirmed the presence of weathered mineralised bodies. Base metals are “new” to Rwanda and need a strong attention as they may open doors for new exploration & mining activities. Furthermore, 90 coltan mines have been sampled to clarify the potential of this valuable mineral. Based on geochemical sampling, a 54 km² coltan promising area was identified and recommended for further exploration. As a result of the project, 14 target areas have been recommended for follow-up work on tantalum, tin, tungsten, copper, zinc, lead, cobalt and rare earth elements. Potentials for improvement of mining and mineral processing technologies have been identified.

The project is a further step towards the systematic identification of the principal mineral potential of the country and the improvement of its mining sector. In addition to the raw material sector, the maps and the data are of interest for a wide range of stakeholders, incl. water supply, agriculture, infrastructure, land use planning and forestry.

More information about RNRA can be found here.