HABA – Horn of Africa Business Association

Improvements in technology and processing are driving effective exploration and extraction of a range of minerals and rare earth elements in Ethiopia and adjacent HABA countries. The Ethiopian Mineral Development Share Company http://www.emdsc.org.et (which is wholly owned by the Ethiopian Government) has been at the forefront of a drive for exploration and can be well satisfied with its results. In recent weeks its Kenticha Tantalum Mine in the Gujii Zone of the Oromia Region has discovered hiqh grade tantalum ore (the mine estimates there is 2,500 tonnes). This certainly bodes well for Ethiopia in the light of the closure of a key tantalum mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that has resulted in an increase in demand for tantalum from Ethiopia. EMDSC’s other operations at mines at Shakiso and elsewhere seeing it producing dolomite, feldspar, kaolin and quartz. Elsewhere in the country with the additional prospect of gold and opal mining looking promising these are heady times for the mining sector in Ethiopia. The success of the likes of the Lege Dembi gold mine has inspired a flurry of foreign investors to consider Ethiopia as a serious prospect for mining and other sectors.