The Kitumbi Women's Mining Cooperative, a 42-member group operating in Mubende District, has become one of the first female-led artisanal groups in Uganda to secure a location licence under the Mining and Minerals Act 2022. Cooperative chairperson Aisha Nabukenya said the licence brings the group inside a legal framework that, until recently, was almost exclusively occupied by male-led syndicates.
For years, women in Mubende's gold pits have been concentrated in the lowest-paid, highest-risk parts of the production chain, panning tailings and processing mercury-amalgamated concentrates without formal recognition. The licence gives the cooperative documented ground, a bankable identity and a seat at community development agreement negotiations with medium-scale operators nearby.
The formalisation was supported by the Uganda Association of Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners (UGAASM) and by a district-level legal aid clinic. Officials from the Directorate of Geological Survey and Mines said the case is being used as a template for streamlining licence applications from other women-majority cooperatives.
UgandaMineralTrust will follow the cooperative through its first full production year, and will report on whether the licence translates into measurably higher earnings, safer working conditions and stronger community reinvestment.