The award of a 21-year large-scale mining licence to the Makuutu Rare Earths Project has been celebrated in Kampala as a strategic breakthrough. In parts of Bugweri, however, community advocates say the consultation that should have preceded that award was uneven at best.
Households whose gardens sit above the ionic-adsorption clay deposit report that project maps, compensation frameworks and rehabilitation plans have not been walked through in the sub-county meetings the Mining and Minerals Act 2022 envisages. In some villages, the licence award was first heard on the radio.
The company disputes the characterisation and has committed to a fresh cycle of stakeholder engagement ahead of construction. The episode is a reminder that formalisation on paper is not the same thing as formalisation in practice - and that Uganda's most promising critical-minerals asset will need a genuine social licence to succeed.