Ethiopia's Economic Climate

Sector Policies And Strategies

Mineral Resources

Geological studies conducted so far in the country suggest that Ethiopia is endowed with a favorable geological environment hosting a wide variety of promising mineral resources.

Initial explorations have confirmed the existence of deposits of gold, platinum, tantalite, soda ash, and phosphate. Dimension stones, geothermal, petroleum and other metallic, industrial, and chemical minerals have also been identified. Despite all these occurrences, mineral development remained to be limited. During the years between 1974 and 1991, all mineral resource exploration and development was undertaken by a government monopoly. Private individuals were limited to the small-scale exploitation of some construction minerals.

Steps have now been taken to dramatically improve the situation of the mineral sub-sector, most notably by attracting private domestic and foreign investment since 1992. Promoting private investment was central to the transitional governments' economic policy between 1991 and 1995, and is now the cornerstone of the current five-year plan of action for democracy and development. To this effect, the Ministry of Mines and Energy has identified priority areas for development in the mineral sub-sector. As a matter of policy, there is no restriction for the participation of private investment in the development of any type of mineral resources. The Ministry's strategy includes the following measures:

• Speeding-up the collection, storing, evaluation and disseminating of basic geological information in a coordinated manner;
• Disseminating basic geological information to potential investors and aggressively promoting the sub-sector to private investors, particularly in high-value minerals;
• Coordinating a plan of action for the development of mineral resources, which will contribute to the development of other sectors such as agriculture, industry and construction, in an integrated manner;
• Speeding-up regional mapping activity in low-grade metamorphic regions and collecting geological date;
• Gradually transferring all mining activities owned by the government to the private sector.

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