Steel and glass manufacturing, and automotive industries are among the priority sectors that will highly need locally extracted and processed minerals in the next 10 years, according to Fred Mugabe, the Director General of Industry Promotion and Entrepreneurship Development at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM).
As the three domestic industries use locally extracted and processed minerals, it could also reduce imports of raw materials.
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"We have a new industrial policy to be implemented in the next 10 years. Among the priority sectors under this policy are three types of industries. These are steel, glass manufacturing, and automotive industry, all of which are closely linked to the mining sector," Mugabe said at the opening of the Rwanda Mining Week on Wednesday, December 3, in Kigali.
He explained that, without iron ore, the steel industry cannot develop.
"The good news is that studies have identified large deposits of iron ore in Rwanda, which are very pivotal and instrumental in driving the steel industry. This is also a priority for metallurgy and light industries associated with the iron ore commodity," he explained.
Glass manufacturing
He said that glass manufacturing is one of the industries that Rwanda is looking to in the near future.
"We have found that we have enough raw materials that can be mined for glass manufacturing," he noted.
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The government is looking to attracting potential investors for the establishment of a factory to produce glass bottles to satisfy the growing demand, instead of relying only on imports.
Information from MINICOM shows that demand for glass bottles increased from 19,530 tonnes in 2022 to 21,816 tonnes in 2023. According to projections, the demand is expected to rise to 24,179 tonnes by 2027.
According to a feasibility study for a glass manufacturing plant in the country done by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the production of glass requires sufficient raw materials such as quartz sand, dolomite, and limestone.
The study showed that Rwanda boasts vast reserves of quartz sand, dolomite, and limestone. Total quartz sand reserves are estimated at over 73 million tonnes.
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And, according to RDB, there is a need for private sector investment in sand mining. This includes $85 million for manufacturing container glass and $150 million for flat glass.
Container glass is used in production of glass containers, such as bottles, jars, and drinkware (glasses, cups, and other containers used for holding drinks).
Flat glass is used in the production of windows, doors, transparent walls, and windscreens.
There is also a need to manufacture 220 tonnes of container glass and 400 tonnes of flat glass annually, according to official estimates.
Minerals for automotive industry
The automotive industry will need locally extracted and processed minerals, Mugabe added.
He said the country produces tin, tantalum and tungsten, dubbed jointly as 3Ts, predominantly used in the automotive industry and electronic industries.
The ‘3Ts’ are highly valued for their unique physical and chemical properties, critical for production of a myriad of car components. Tin is also important for electronic components in modern vehicles.
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Tantalum is primarily used in the production of high-performance capacitors, which are critical for automobile electronics.
Rwanda is home to more than 1.4 million tonnes of 3T reserves, according to RDB.
Mugabe said the country also identified huge reserves of lithium, key for batteries used in electric vehicles.
Rwanda is also a producer of precious gemstones (ruby, sapphire, amethyst, tourmaline, aquamarine), and gold, among others.
However, he noted, there are still challenges related to access to finance.
"We are attracting both foreign and local investors to contribute to the development of the industrial sector by exploring, extracting, and adding value to locally available minerals. These investors need access to finance. Therefore, we are also engaging the financial sector to show them the potential in the mining sector," he added.
Alice Uwase, the deputy chief executive of the Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RMB), speaking on a panel at the lunch of the ongoing ‘mining week’, admitted that access to finance remained a challenge in the exploration and extraction of minerals.
Rwanda's mining sector holds $150bn potential, according to the RMB.