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Gold mining in Uganda: where gold is found
Where gold occurs and is mined in Uganda, which operations are licensed, how artisanal mining is being formalised, and what that means for a buyer seeking documented Ugandan origin.
Uganda's gold districts
Peer-reviewed geology identifies four main gold districts in Uganda. Uganda's extractive-industries transparency body (UGEITI), citing the mining directorate, lists the same areas as artisanal and small-scale mining regions, together with Kigezi in the south-west.
| District | Where | Geology | Known workings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Busia | Busia, Bugiri, Namayingo (east) | Busia–Kakamega granite–greenstone belt; lode gold | Tiira, Alupe, Syanyonja artisanal area; the Wagagai mine |
| Mubende | Mubende, Kassanda, Kyegegwa (central) | Rwenzori fold belt; gold hosted in metasediments | Kamalenge, Kisita |
| Buhweju–Mashonga | Bushenyi, Buhweju, Sheema, Ibanda (south-west) | Vein and intrusion-hosted gold | Kitaka, Mashonga |
| Karamoja | Moroto, Nakapiripirit, Amudat, Napak, Kaabong and neighbouring districts (north-east) | Shear-zone gold | Many artisanal workings; Nakabat |
Industrial mining
Uganda's first large-scale gold mine, Wagagai in Busia, was commissioned in August 2025. It holds a large-scale mining lease to 2040, processes ore on site and refines to 99.9%, with a capacity of about 1.2–1.5 tonnes of gold a year (reported). Its actual output and buyers have not been published.
Artisanal and small-scale mining
Most Ugandan gold is mined by artisanal and small-scale miners, at an estimated 1.5 to 3.4 tonnes a year, most of it unrecorded. Formalisation is recent: eight small-scale mining licences had been issued nationally by November 2025 (reported), and the government has announced gold buying centres in Kassanda, Moroto and Kotido. Since 2026 the Bank of Uganda has bought gold from licensed, prequalified miners.
Resource figures: read them carefully
Official investment material cites large gold resources, for example 5 million ounces in Mubende District and 1 million ounces at Mashonga. These figures are published without a recognised reporting code such as JORC or NI 43-101, and some conflict with each other. Treat them as claims, not as measured reserves, and treat headline "discovery" figures the same way: see the Uganda gold discovery claim.
Mined gold and exported gold
Recorded mine production is small, about 15 kg a year or less in recent official figures, while exports reached about 62 tonnes in 2025. Most exported gold is not Uganda-mined. See production and exports.
What this means for a buyer
Documented Ugandan origin means a lot traced to a licensed mine or small-scale licence in one of these districts, with a movement permit, lot records, a licensed refinery that keeps the lot separate, and the export documents for the consignment. That is the standard any lot we eventually quote must meet. Request a gold quote or read how buying works.
Quotes
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Send the gold form, fineness, quantity, delivery point and the documents you require. We reply by email with what can and cannot be quoted at this stage, and on what basis.
Sources for the figures and rules on this page
Evidence for this page
Each statement is labelled by the strength of its evidence and dated. How we label evidence.
| Statement | Evidence | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uganda's documented gold districts are Busia (Busia–Kakamega granite–greenstone belt), Mubende (Rwenzori fold belt), Buhweju–Mashonga and Karamoja, with the workings named in the table. | Independently evidenced | Nyakecho and Hagemann, Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 61(1), 2014 (abstract) | |
| UGEITI, citing DGSM, lists artisanal and small-scale gold regions as Karamoja; Eastern (Busia, Bugiri, Namayingo); Central (Kyegegwa, Mubende, Kassanda); Kigezi (Kisoro, Kabale); and Ankole (Bushenyi, Buhweju). | Official | Uganda EITI report FY2019/20, p.27; FY2021/22 | |
| The Wagagai mine in Busia was commissioned in August 2025, with expected annual output of about 1.5 t (UN) or 1.2 t (UIA) and on-site refining to 99.9%; it holds mining lease ML1999 to 2040. | Verified | UN Group of Experts on the DRC, S/2026/466, annex 66; Uganda Investment Authority; UGEITI licence register | |
| Artisanal and small-scale gold production is estimated at 1.5–3.4 t a year. | Independently evidenced | US Geological Survey estimate, Minerals Yearbook: Uganda (2015–2019) | |
| Eight small-scale mining licences had been issued nationally by November 2025; the government announced gold buying centres in Kassanda, Moroto and Kotido. | Reported | Press reports (UG Diplomat, on the Kassanda small-scale mining licence); State House Investor Protection Unit via UBC, 13–14 Aug 2025 | |
| Resource figures such as 5 million ounces in Mubende District and 1 million ounces at Mashonga are cited from the DGSM Investment Opportunities Handbook 2022, without a reporting code. | Claimed | UGEITI FY2020/21, Table 14, citing DGSM |