After more than a decade of stop-start negotiations, government officials confirmed material progress in mid-2025 on a new concession arrangement for the dormant Kilembe copper-cobalt complex in Kasese. Details of the counterparty and the fiscal terms remain subject to Cabinet approval.
If a credible deal closes, Kilembe would re-enter a global copper and cobalt market whose demand pull from electrification has hardened since 2020. For Kasese, whose labour market has thinned since the 2015 collapse of the Tibet-Hima concession, the economic multiplier of even a phased restart would be significant.