Republic of Rwanda

Progress on Traceability and Certification

November 2013

Outline

Importance of the Mining Industry Good Practice and Transparent Issues; Issues of Concern;

Importance of the Mining Industry

• Mining in Rwanda started in the 1930s, and for a larger part of this history has been the largest export earner. For example(i) it contributed 42.5% of the exports in 1969 and 29% of the total exports in 2012 and (ii) in 1985 a tin smelter was constructed in Kigali to smelt cassiterite mined in Rwanda;

• The key mineral ores currently being mined and traded in Rwanda are cassiterite (SnO2), wolframite (FeMnWO3), colombo-tantalite (Ta2O5, Nb2O5) and gold (Au) i.e. “Conflict Minerals” according to the Dodd Frank Legislation;

• The industry was privatized from 2006 and currently has more than two hundred and fifty companies and cooperatives (mining, exploring and prospecting); and mining is taking place at least 500 mine sites (verified by ITRI);

• Currently, the Sector employs at least 20,000 people, excluding people working in quarries;

• Since 1999 the industry is growing at an average rate of more than 10% per year as indicated in the graph below (in terms of revenue and volume);

Sector Growth

Year

Export earning

s (Million

s of US$)

Exports in Volume (Tons)

1999 6.9 9432000 12.6 1,0122001 42.6 2,1022002 15.9 2,0832003 11.1 2,5992004 29.3 5,0822005 37.3 6,4652006 37.0 6,1872007 70.6 8,2832008 94.0 7,3642009 54.6 7,9602010 71.0 8,4062011 158.0 9,6972012 136.3 7588

Growth in the number of permits over a period of two years (Dec. 2011-Nov. 2013)

In pursuit of good practice in the mining industry, in additional to existing legal framework CTC standards were introduced in 2009. A number of policies were developed and are now being used to develop good practice

Principles Standards

traceability, transparency

Origin, fiscal obligations, revenue, transparency, oppose corruption,

labour &Working conditions

salary level, child labour, Workers organization, protective & production means, health &safety, training

Security Capacity, risk assessment

Communitydevelopment

structureddialogue, local business, integratedsupport, free, priorinformedconsent, gender

Environment EIA, waste disposal, provision forrehabilitation

In the advent of Doss Frank in July 2010

Partnership with ITRIAn MoU was signed with ITRI in October 2010 to implement the iTSCi scheme;

By 1st April 2011 we started tagging most of the mineral exports from Rwanda under the iTSCi scheme and certainly later that year till now 100% of all mineral exports from Rwanda are being tagged;

Internal movement of untagged minerals and importing of untagged minerals from the surrounding countries became illegal by April 20112: A new Ministerial Regulation had been passed in March 2011 to provide a legal framework for this development;

Two baseline surveys have been conducted by ITRI on all operating mine sites in the country since mineral tagging and bagging began and our mines and exporters have undergone several audits by third parties (Channel Research);

 

 

Currently mineral concentrates from all mine sites in the country are being sampled by ITRI to build a data base of approximate characteristics of economic mineral ore deposits in Rwanda; a separate MoU for this exercise exists;

  We are currently testing an electronic scanner (Personal Digital Assistant:

PDA) to lower the risks that may arise through data delivery delays and human error in filling logbooks. It is currently being tested at several mines and the initial results are very promising; Proposed PDA to be used in mineral tagging;

Currently 95 GoR agents manage the tagging system at 547 mine Sites with frequent supervision of iTSCi staff; 40 more are being Recruited. The target is to increase the number further to 200;

Incidents are reported in case of any suspected anomalies in the supply chain; these are jointly investigated by the GoR (GMD) and the iTSCi representatives; A Steering Committee, composed of representatives from GoR, Civil Society, industry and iTSCi/ITRI is in place to over see the

process;

iTSCi has a permanent presence in Rwanda with ……..staff

Production and Export Comparison

Implementation of the Regional Certification Mechanism (RCM)

The Regional Mineral Certification Mechanism (RCM) manual has been adopted in the Rwandan Legal Framework through a Ministerial regulation in March 2012 (Signed by the ministers of Justice and Natural Resources);

In preparations to issue the ICGLR mineral export certificates; (i) an MoU has been signed between Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS) and Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA) to implement the introduction of the regional certificate;

A comprehensive mine sites inspection document has been finalized and has been tested; inspectors have been recruited and trained to complete the template; (a copy of the booklet is available);

A fully staffed Certification Unit has been established. It has developed all the requirements and procedures; application forms, certificate, seal markings, training of exporters, database formats, etc.; we have issued the first Export Certificate to Rutongo Mines on 05/11/2013;

A mineral chain evaluator has recently verified the Chain of Custody (CoC) in some Rwandan operators and found no prohibition to give an ICGLR Certificate to the evaluated companies, need for improvement not withstanding;

• Formation of mining cooperatives and their umbrella organization; the National Federation of Mining Cooperatives, FECOMIRWA;

• Constant training and constant inspection; and also applying sanctions;

• Developing the policy of forming alliances with more capable partners; this is progressing quickly;

• Sensitization of financial institutions to participate in the funding of the small scale mining/processing and trading activities;

Formalization of Artisanal Miners

Improved Artisanal Mine : HABATU Mining _Eastern Province of Rwanda_April 2013

Meeting of RNRA/GMD inspectors with miners, during a mine site Inspection Exercise in

Eastern Province of Rwanda_April 2013

Certificate Sample

Analytical Finger Printing ; Future Progress

More than 300 Analytical Finger Printing (AFP) samples have been collected

from mine sites and about 50 of them have already been analyzed in Hannover

by BGR. We have collected and analyzed, in partnership with BGR, more

mineral finger printing samples than any other country in the world. Thanks to

corporation with BGR once again, we have a fully-fledged AFP sample

preparation laboratory and qualified staff to run it; more than 100 thin sections

have so far been prepared by GMD and be forward to BGR for analysis.

AFP (Analytical Fingerprint) for coltan, cassiterite, wolframite

Gatumba

Nemba

Ntunga

Rutsiro/Sebeya/Giciye

Rutongo

Sn

Bisesero

Mara

Concentrate

Polished section

SEM / MLA

LA-ICP-MS

Mineralogical study

Geochemistry & age

Characteristic AFP concentrate features allow identification of source region??

Challenges

The certification is becoming more expensive under the current practice. Some of mining activities in marginal areas made go out of business; the practice of stationing permanently Government officials at mine sites which are expanding quickly will be unsustainable in the long run; Companies need to gradually take responsibility of keeping agreed upon standards alongside regular audits;

No harmonization audit standards; this causes unnecessary expenses and interruption of work;

The use of logbooks for documentation create risks of human error and unnecessary delays in in data transmission;

The artisanal miners take relatively long to practice regular reporting and to adopt to modern methods;

(i) Lack of harmonized fiscal regimes in the region that continues to encourage attempts at smuggling; (ii) attempts at internal smuggling are also a nuisance. The vigilance of all concerned Government machinery has discouraged both;

Current de-facto embargo on regional minerals by many US and European companies arising from punitive Auditing requirements under Dodd Frank Legislation; these need to be revised make them friendlier to business;

Changing destination of Rwandan Minerals

MURAKOZE

THANK YOU