The Uganda National Mining Company (UNMC), created under the Mining and Minerals Act 2022 to hold the state's mandatory 15% free-carried interest in large-scale operations, has begun formally taking up equity in new licences awarded since 2023.
The vehicle is designed to give Ugandans a durable ownership stake in the sector without exposing the Treasury to construction-stage capital calls. It also creates a formal counterparty inside government for community development agreement compliance and local content reporting.
The practical test of UNMC will be governance: whether it publishes audited accounts, whether directors act independently of the licence holders they co-own, and whether dividends, when they come, reach a ring-fenced mineral development fund.