By Gladys Fred Kole
Council of Ministers, in a meeting on Friday, adopted and passed a mining technical proposal document presented by the minister of mining.
Deputy Minister of Information, Jacob Korok Maiju the Cabinet meeting was chaired by President Salva Kiir.
According to Korok, the cabinet adopted and passed the proposal after listening to a presentation by the minister of mining, Hon. Martin Gama Abucha.
“The cabinet listened to a report from the minister of mining on a technical proposal for an integrated systematic juridical survey of South Sudan,” Korok said.
He continued that what the Ministry of Mining has amended is to provide juridical and rich information to the investors for issuing a new role, title, and license.
The deputy information minister explained that the proposal will address challenges of lack of data, which has been troubling the Ministry of Mining.
“The project will enable the government to diversify the economy of the country; the council adopted and passed this proposal unanimously,” Maiju noted.
South Sudan is one of the African countries known as an important oil producer and also has other mineral resource deposits like copper, gold, diamonds, and limestone, to mention but a few.
This framework document aims to boost government investment efforts, particularly in exploration, and also develop the mining sector in the country.
The South Sudan mining industry started operating from the time South Sudan became a semi-autonomous regional government of the then Sudan in 2005.
The young East African country inherited a well-developed petroleum industry with an extensive network of pipelines passing through neighboring Sudan. However, the other mining areas remain largely undeveloped.
However, contractual allotments in mining lacked any form of regulatory framework, resulting in the national legislative assembly imposing a moratorium on mining licenses in November 2010.
With independence in 2011, the petroleum industry was previously halted. Subsequent to this event, interest in mining non-fuel minerals has emerged, and a new Mining Act has come into effect as of December 2012.
However, the Mining Act is bound to be amended based on the revitalized peace agreement.