Unlocking geoscience data – Uganda Pilot Project the key to African resource development
Resource development relies on geoscience data (‘geodata’). In Africa, access to useful geodata is often slow, expensive and unreliable. This discourages potential investors and leads to a slow rate of development. A pilot project is proposed in Uganda to create a Geoscience Data Portal to make ‘geodata’ freely available and stimulate economic development.
A pilot project has been proposed to achieve this objective. The project will explore, develop and test the benefits of geodata sharing as part of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between Government, industry and commercial organisations. This Pilot Project proposal is made by a consortium of the African Union Commission, the British Geological Survey, Geosoft Inc., International Geoscience Services (IGS ltd), the Uganda Directorate of Geological Survey and Mines (UDGSM) and the Ugandan Chamber of Mines and Petroleum (UCMP).
The pilot project will focus on two areas of Uganda: Busia within the greenstone belt to the east of Kampala which is prospective for gold, base metals, phosphates, rare earth elements and vermiculite; and Buhweju southwest of Kampala which has the potential for gold and base metals (copper, lead, nickel and zinc). While these pilot areas focus on mineral resource development, the wider benefits of geodata sharing will also be considered for water resource development, land-use planning, agriculture, environment and socio-economic development.
For further details please see – Uganda Press Release