Kasese Cobalt Company Limited is banking on the revival of a neglected government parastatal, which has been out of business for more than 30 years, for its survival.
Kasese Cobalt Company Limited has three years to close shop. The company is weighed down by huge amounts of debt, and the cobalt that it produces is not profitable at all to keep the business running.
However, officials at the company believe that the reopening of Kilembe Mines Limited could give it a new lease of life.
Government is seeking to enter into a joint venture with a private company to reopen Kilembe Mines Limited. Any investor wishing to take over the company has to buy more than 51% of the shares in the company, according to one of the requirements, while the option of the investor taking up full ownership of the company at a future date remains a strong possibility. Government wants Kilembe opened within two years.
However the dangers that the toxic waste that could arise out of Kilembe, if it resumes production, have boosted hope within Kasese Cobalt Company Limited of being contracted to manage this toxic waste.
Kilembe Mines Limited is no stranger to destroying the environment. During its peak years in the late seventies, Kilembe Mines Limited dumped waste material just outside its premises. This toxic waste later on formed an acid trail that finally flowed into Lake George, contaminating the lake. Also, huge chunks of the green vegetation in places such as Queen Elizabeth National Park were wiped out due to this toxic waste.
Using funds from different players, Kasese Cobalt Company Limited has since 1999 built a 12,500 cubic metre acid pond into which the remaining acid trail from Kilembe’s dumped wastes flows. In buying time, Kasese Cobalt also wants to boost its production of cobalt.
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I am very sad to read that Uganda still isn't making money from Cobalt. In the early '90s, I was the commercial representative at the British High Commission involved in trying to get a deal done with Barclays Metals and a French company to build what sounded like a wonderful processing plant that would have helped clean up the tailings leaching into Lake George AND make Uganda a lot of much needed money. I would love to know why this deal fell through. I left Kampala at the very end of 1992. If anyone can give me the history to this tragedy, I would be most grateful. Roger Holtum, Copenhagen, Denmark
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