Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RMB), Ms. Alice Uwase, on Thursday participated in two Ministerial Roundtables at the ongoing Mining in Motion Conference in Accra.

Ministers responsible for mining and senior officials from across Africa discussed the continent’s critical minerals and their development, with a focus on value retention. They also considered how to finance Africa’s transition from exploration to refining.

CEO Uwase shared RMB’s approach to value addition, noting that Rwanda’s priorities are raising mineral grades, mechanising operations, formalising the sector and attracting value-addition investors. She added that the country is building skills through partnerships with academia.

She explained that Rwanda did not implement a full ban on raw mineral exports but instead identified the most pressing priorities and is using a proof of concept to understand the technical challenges before scaling up.

“Once you define the minerals that you have, then you can prepare a long-term industrialisation plan,” she stated.

The CEO noted that Rwanda is organising artisanal miners into cooperatives and training them to meet health, safety and environmental standards, while restructuring its polytechnic schools to build long-term partnerships with institutions abroad for specialised skills.

She called on African countries to adopt long-term strategies for industrialisation rather than focusing only on mid-term goals, noting that such plans would give regional institutions a stronger foundation to build on.