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Miners have asked government to invest and facilitate artisanal and small-scale gold mining to enable increased revenue and effective tax collection.

Speaking during a knowledge exchange programme organized by Uganda Association of Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners in partnership with Solidaridad East and Central Africa in Tanzania, Mr John Bosco Bukya, the association chairperson, said it was important that government builds capacity among artisanal miners to supplement existing production.

However, he said, miners should also embrace the law and traceability of gold, noting that: “We need to support government via transparency and participation in government system to ease collection of taxes.”

Dr Flugy Mukasa, who operates under Mubende Miners’ Assembly, said government should interest itself in helping small scale miners to establish model mines that can equip and train miners on safe processes to reduce risks involved in gold mining.

The advantage of establishing model mining entities, he said, will enable local miners to acquire skills, which in the long term will save Uganda from investing in expatriate knowledge and benchmarking travels.

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