Minerals, Mining, Oil & Gas

Why resources need a chapter of their own

In most sectors a foreign investor asks whether the market is open and which licence the business needs. In mining there is a prior question, because the investor needs a grant of the resource itself. Article 3(a) of Law N° 072/2024 of 26/06/2024 on mining and quarry operations (the Mining Law) vests "all rights of ownership and control of minerals or quarry products in, under or upon any land in Rwanda" in the State "notwithstanding personal ownership of land", and Article 43 of Law N° 27/2021 of 10/06/2021 governing land says the same from the land side. Owning or leasing land in Rwanda therefore never carries a right to mine it. Minerals and quarry products are released through licences granted by the Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RMB); petroleum through a licence and an agreement with the Minister in charge of petroleum under Law N° 13/2016 of 02/05/2016. The ordinary company, investment, land, tax, employment and environmental rules apply on top of the resource grant, not instead of it.

Mining matters to Rwanda's economy out of proportion to its size. RDB reports mineral exports of USD 1.1 billion in 2023, against USD 373.4 million in 2017, and RMB counts more than 92,000 jobs in the sector and 52 target areas under exploration. Most production is of the "3T" minerals, tin (cassiterite), tantalum (coltan) and tungsten (wolframite), with gold, gemstones and, increasingly, lithium, beryllium and rare earths as exploration targets. Most of it comes from artisanal and small-scale operators, which shapes the licensing system, the local ownership rules and the traceability regime that every buyer will ask about.

The law, the regulator and the gaps

The Mining Law came into force on publication in the Official Gazette on 24 July 2024 and repealed Law N° 58/2018 of 13/08/2018. Licences granted under the 2018 law remain valid until they expire (Article 75), but the Law does not expressly keep alive the instruments made under the 2018 law. RMB nonetheless continues to publish and apply the seven Regulations of its Chief Executive Officer of 18 July 2019, which supply the categorisation of mines, the application and tender procedure, the fees, the local shareholding rules, the model agreements and the rehabilitation guarantee. None of the new Regulations, Prime Minister's Order or Ministerial Orders that the 2024 Law calls for had been published at 10 October 2026. The framework, the institutions and these gaps are set out in The Mining Law 2024 and the regulators.

RMB was established by Presidential Order N° 028/01 of 18/05/2023 and is supervised by the Office of the President. It licenses, inspects and sanctions mineral, quarry, oil and gas activity, runs the Geological Information and Mining Cadastre System (GIMCS) through which licence applications are made, and issues export certificates through the Mineral Certification Information System (MCIS). The Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) collects the tax on minerals, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) is the One Stop Center for applications and issues environmental impact certificates, and the Districts deal with small quarries and community plans.

Licences, tax and traceability

Article 7 of the Mining Law provides for an exploration licence, small-, medium- and large-scale mining licences, a mineral trading licence and a mineral processing licence, Article 25 requires a special licence for radioactive minerals, and Article 28 adds three tiers of quarry licence. Exploration blocks may be up to 400 hectares and run for four years, renewable once for four; mining licences run for up to 15 years and may be renewed more than once. Any transfer of the licence, including any transfer of shares in the holder, needs RMB's prior written approval and is barred until 30% of the pledged investment has been spent. RMB has also begun offering blocks through competitive rounds. Licence types, procedure, fees, transfers and sanctions are in Mining licences and quarry licences.

Law N° 056/2024 of 26/06/2024 establishing tax on minerals charges a mining royalty of 0.5% to 3% on every sale of minerals and, for minerals exported in raw form, a further export tax of 0.5% to 3%. The tax is withheld by the local processor or exporter, is not deductible for income tax, and sits alongside 28% corporate income tax, the 10% capital gains tax on licence and share transfers and the Investment Code incentives for exploration and value addition: see Mineral tax, royalties and fiscal terms. Mineral exports need an export certificate issued by RMB through MCIS, and 3T minerals and gold move under the International Tin Supply Chain Initiative (iTSCi) tagging system and the Regional Certification Mechanism of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). Possessing or trading minerals without proof of origin is a fault and, where they were illegally extracted, a serious offence. These rules, and the foreign rules that make buyers demand them, are in 3T, gold and traceability.

Agreements, communities and the State's share

RMB signs an agreement with each holder of an industrial mining or quarry licence to complete its rights and obligations (Article 73), on the model in Regulations N° 004/MINES/RMB/2019, which provides for arbitration at the Kigali International Arbitration Centre (KIAC) and for Rwandan employment and procurement commitments. Every holder must give preference to Rwandan contractors and goods where they are competitive (Article 72), agree a development and social welfare plan with the District (Article 74), carry out an environmental and social impact assessment before starting, keep a costed rehabilitation plan and lodge a rehabilitation guarantee. The Government may take shares on agreed terms (Article 48), and a mining licence "may entitle the government with free carried interest" on terms to be set by Ministerial Order (Article 49). These obligations are covered in Mining agreements, local content and community.

Strategic minerals, petroleum and methane, and sanctions

Article 3(d) of the Mining Law lets RMB designate strategic minerals reserved to the Government, a power not yet used. Rwanda's position in critical-mineral supply chains has been reshaped by the Washington process of 2025: the peace agreement between Rwanda and the DRC of 27 June 2025, the Regional Economic Integration Framework signed on 4 December 2025 and a framework with the United States signed the same day. These instruments, the commercial deals that followed and their limits are in Strategic minerals and regional deals.

Oil and gas exploration in the Lake Kivu basin has produced seismic, gravity and magnetic data, but official updates report no exploration well (exploration rights granted to Vanoil Energy and later reported awarded to Ngali Mining did not lead to drilling), and the implementing orders of Law N° 13/2016 have not been made. Lake Kivu's dissolved methane, shared with the DRC, already fuels 82.4 MW of generating capacity, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA), without a dedicated statute. Upstream, methane and the downstream fuel trade regulated by RURA under Law N° 85/2013 are covered in Petroleum and Lake Kivu methane. The European Union and United States sanctions of March 2025 and June 2026, the due diligence an acquirer, lender or buyer should run, and the reforms still awaited are in Sanctions, due diligence and reforms.

How to use this chapter

Begin with The Mining Law 2024 and the regulators, which explains who owns minerals, which instruments are in force and which are still awaited, and which body decides what. An investor looking at a block, whether through a direct application or a competitive round, should then read Mining licences and quarry licences for licence types, sizes, terms, fees, the local shareholding rules and the transfer restrictions, and Mineral tax, royalties and fiscal terms to model the royalty, export tax and income tax. Anyone who buys, processes, finances or exports minerals should read 3T, gold and traceability with Sanctions, due diligence and reforms. Holders preparing for a mining agreement, an environmental impact assessment or closure should read Mining agreements, local content and community; investors in lithium, tungsten or rare earths, or in projects with a regional angle, Strategic minerals and regional deals; and energy investors Petroleum and Lake Kivu methane.

Mining sits on the rest of the guide: the company must be registered in Rwanda (Registering a company with RDB), the land rules govern compensation and leases (The Land Law and land tenure), and the 10% capital gains tax applies on exit (Capital gains, property and other taxes). Each section ends with the related Be Rwanda Wise FAQs, the official sources and a question you can put to Rwandabot, the AI legal-information chatbot, about your own project. Figures are stated at 10 October 2026. Because the regulations, fee schedule, committee order and carried-interest order required by the 2024 Law are still awaited, and because sanctions designations can change without notice, check the position with RMB and against the official lists before relying on it for a later transaction (FAQ 115).