The Mining Law 2024 and the regulators: Law N° 072/2024 on mining and quarry operations, State ownership of minerals under Article 3(a), the landowner's rights under Article 4, strategic minerals, the Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board, the Licensing Committee, RDB, RRA, REMA and the Districts, and the 2019 regulations still applied

One law for mines and quarries since 24 July 2024

Mining and quarrying in Rwanda are governed by Law N° 072/2024 of 26/06/2024 on mining and quarry operations (the Mining Law). The Chamber of Deputies adopted it at its sitting of 7 June 2024, and it was published in the Official Gazette n° Special of 24/07/2024. Under Article 78 it came into force on the date of publication, 24 July 2024. Article 77 repealed Law N° 58/2018 of 13/08/2018 on mining and quarry operations, and Article 75 provides that a mining or quarry licence granted under the 2018 law "remains valid until its expiration". A licence issued before July 2024 therefore keeps its original term, but its holder is now subject to the obligations and sanctions of the 2024 Law. Article 76 records that the Law was drafted, considered and adopted in Ikinyarwanda, so the Kinyarwanda text is the reference version where the English and French texts in the same Gazette diverge.

The Law has 78 articles in ten chapters, from licences (Articles 7 to 37) through environment, health and safety (38 to 43), finance (44 to 49), faults and offences (50 to 70) to local procurement, agreements and community contributions (71 to 74). It is a framework law that leaves much of the detail to implementing instruments, most of which are still awaited. Article 2 sets the scope through its definitions. Minerals are substances extracted from the soil that can be processed to increase their economic value, metallic or non-metallic, "with the exception of hydrocarbons and water"; oil and gas fall under Law N° 13/2016 of 02/05/2016 governing petroleum exploration and production activities instead (Petroleum and Lake Kivu methane). Radioactive minerals are those containing by weight at least 0.05% of uranium or thorium, or both. Mining operations means activities designed to explore, extract, process or trade minerals, so a trader or a smelter is as much within the Law as a miner. Quarry operations means extracting, processing or trading geological materials used in works for their physical and chemical properties, such as stone, sand and clay. A controlling interest is the direct or indirect ability to hold more than 50% of the power to direct management or a majority holding, which matters for transfers of licences held by public companies (Article 16(4)). A person includes an individual, a company, a cooperative, a subsidiary and a partnership. The competent organ is "a State organ in charge of mine and quarry", which is RMB.

Who owns the minerals: Article 3

Article 3 sets seven general principles. The first, in Article 3(a), is that "all rights of ownership and control of minerals or quarry products in, under or upon any land in Rwanda are vested in the State notwithstanding personal ownership of land and other properties thereof". Article 43 of Law N° 27/2021 of 10/06/2021 governing land confirms the position from the land side (The Land Law and land tenure). Some commentaries and the Be Rwanda Wise FAQ on the point cite Article 4 for State ownership; the correct reference is Article 3(a), and Article 4 deals with the rights of the landowner in a licensed area.

Articles 3(b) and 3(c) draw the practical consequence: mining operations and quarry operations may be carried out only by a person holding a licence under the Law. Ownership of the surface, a freehold title, an emphyteutic lease or a land concession gives no right to extract even a small quantity of minerals or quarry products for sale. The Law backs this with criminal offences that reach the landowner as well as the miner. A person who allows a person without a licence to carry on mining activity on his or her land commits an offence punishable by one to two years' imprisonment and a fine of RWF 25,000,000 to RWF 50,000,000, or one of these penalties; a company faces a fine of RWF 60,000,000 to RWF 80,000,000 and may be dissolved (Article 66). Allowing unlicensed quarrying carries two to six months and RWF 1,000,000 to RWF 3,000,000, or RWF 4,000,000 to RWF 6,000,000 for a company (Article 69).

Two further principles reserve resources to the State. Under Article 3(d) the competent organ "may designate certain strategic minerals for which the Government exercises exclusive rights in the public interest", and under Article 3(e) it may designate quarries for exclusive exploitation by the Government for public-interest projects. No designation of strategic minerals had been published at 10 October 2026, but the power exists and could be used for lithium, rare earths or another mineral whose value rises; it is discussed in Strategic minerals and regional deals. The remaining principles require social welfare, environmental protection and gender equality (Articles 3(f) and 3(g)).

The landowner in a licensed area: Article 4

Because the State owns the minerals but not necessarily the land, Article 4 reconciles the two. The landowner or other lawful occupier keeps "full rights on that land in accordance with the relevant legislation" (Article 4(1)). Where a mineral deposit is discovered on any land, the licence holder must, before it starts mining operations, provide the landowner or lawful occupier with fair compensation (Article 4(2)), and once it has done so "the acquired land is registered to the State" (Article 4(3)). The mining company does not become the owner of the land; the State does, and the company works it under its licence.

Exploration and quarrying are treated differently. Where land is subject to an exploration or quarry licence, the holder concludes a written lease contract with the landowner or lawful occupier, and the land is handed back to the owner when exploration or quarrying is completed (Article 4(4)). The quarry holder also pays leasing fees and compensation for damage to land and other property (Article 34(b)), and a mining licence holder must compensate fairly for damage to land and property caused by its operations (Article 24(1)(j)). An exploration company therefore negotiates leases, not purchases.

The Mining Law speaks only of "fair compensation". It does not say how the amount is fixed, who values the land or what happens if the landowner refuses the offer, and it does not refer expressly to Law N° 32/2015 of 11/06/2015 relating to expropriation in the public interest. Earlier commentary, including Be Rwanda Wise FAQ 102 and FAQ 113, describes the compensation as paid "under the expropriation law"; the 2024 text does not say so, although the expropriation law lists minerals and other natural resources in the public domain among activities of public interest. In practice an investor should value the land with a certified valuer, record the agreement in writing, and expect the District to be involved; the procedure where agreement fails is in Expropriation and compensation. Compensation, resettlement and the community development plan required by Article 74 are covered in Mining agreements, local content and community.

The Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board

RMB is governed by Presidential Order N° 028/01 of 18/05/2023, published in the Official Gazette n° Special of 25/05/2023. Article 3 of the Order places it under the supervision of the Office of the President, to which its Board of Directors submits an activity report every quarter (Article 10) and its Board chair sends the minutes of Board meetings (Article 12). Its mission is to regulate and manage minerals, quarries, oil and gas: it explores for resources itself, licenses and monitors exploration, mining, processing and trading and oil and gas activities, inspects licensees, imposes administrative sanctions and facilitates the amicable settlement of disputes in the sector.

In day-to-day dealings an investor meets RMB through its online systems. The Geological Information and Mining Cadastre System (GIMCS) external portal is used to apply for mining and quarry licences, for recommendations for blasting materials and for mineral sample permits; RMB and District staff process the same files on the internal side of the system. The Mineral Certification Information System (MCIS) is used by companies allowed to export minerals to apply for Mineral Export Certificates and ICGLR Mineral Export Certificates, and a mobile application lets a buyer verify that a printed certificate matches the record in MCIS.

Leadership has changed twice since 2025. In March 2025 the European Union listed RMB's then Chief Executive Officer, Francis Kamanzi, in its sanctions regime for the DRC, which is discussed in Sanctions, due diligence and reforms; a new Chief Executive Officer, Alice Uwase, was reported appointed in July 2025, and RMB announced on 5 March 2026 that the Cabinet had appointed, on 4 March 2026, a head of department for mines, petroleum and gas exploration and three division managers, including one for Mining Cadastre and Digital Information. Investors should address correspondence to the institution, through GIMCS or RMB's published addresses, rather than to named officials.

The Licensing Committee, RDB and the other bodies

Article 6 of the Mining Law establishes a committee in charge of assessing applications for mining and quarry licences, and Article 11(2) requires RMB to consider its recommendation before granting a mining licence. Article 6(2) requires a Prime Minister's Order on the Committee's structure, membership and functioning. No such Order had been published at 10 October 2026, and RMB lists Prime Minister's Order N° 079/03 of 26/07/2019, made under the 2018 law, which set up a committee to assess licence applications and handle disputes in mining and quarry operations. The annexes to RMB's December 2025 invitation to apply for mineral blocks state that, after evaluation, the evaluating committee submits its report to the licensing committee for further evaluation and onward submission to the Chief Executive Officer; investors should expect that two-tier review.

Article 9(2) requires that an application for a mining licence and the response to it are transmitted through the One Stop Center, the RDB service that gathers the permits an investor needs. In practice the application is lodged on GIMCS, and an investor registered with RDB under Law N° 006/2021 of 05/02/2021 on Investment Promotion and Facilitation can ask its RDB account manager to follow the file (Sectors open to foreign investors and licensing). RDB also issues the environmental and social impact assessment certificate that every exploration, mining, processing and commercial or industrial quarry licence holder needs before operations start (Article 38), under Ministerial Order N° 003/MoE/25 of 19/08/2025, and REMA issues the final rehabilitation certificate (Article 40(2)).

Which implementing rules apply: the 2019 regulations

The Mining Law leaves much of the detail to regulations of the competent organ, a Prime Minister's Order and two Ministerial Orders, listed in the table below. At 10 October 2026 none of these instruments made under the 2024 Law appeared on RMB's pages of laws, regulations and orders. RMB continues to publish and apply the seven Regulations of the Chief Executive Officer N° 001 to 007/MINES/RMB/2019 of 18/07/2019, published in the Official Gazette n° 29 bis of 29/07/2019: N° 001 on the environmental rehabilitation guarantee, N° 002 on services in mining and quarry operations, N° 003 on processing and trading licences, N° 004 on the format of licences and the model agreements, N° 005 on potential mining areas, categorisation of mines, applications and tenders, N° 006 on samples, and N° 007 on quarries. Its December 2025 invitation for mineral blocks expressly required applications "as per" Regulations N° 005/MINES/RMB/2019. The legal footing is uncertain, because those Regulations were made under the 2018 law and Article 75 of the 2024 Law preserves only licences, not implementing instruments. The guide therefore describes their rules as rules "under 2019 RMB regulations still applied by RMB". An investor who plans around them should obtain RMB's written confirmation that they apply to its file, particularly for the local shareholding rules, the fees and the licence durations, which come from them and not from the Law.

Three conflicts need watching. Regulations N° 005/MINES/RMB/2019 give a medium-scale mine a licence term of ten years and a small-scale mine five years, while Article 13 of the 2024 Law allows any mining licence up to fifteen years based on the feasibility study; the Regulations require quarterly reports (Article 35) where the Law requires six-monthly ones (Articles 22 and 24); and Article 14 of the Regulations requires a renewal application "at least ninety (90) days before the expiration of the licence", while Article 14(3) of the Law requires a mining licence renewal application "within a period not exceeding 90 days before the expiration", so the two texts meet only on the 90th day before expiry and the filing date should be agreed with RMB in writing. Where a regulation conflicts with the Law, the Law prevails, but RMB fixes the actual term in the licence. Ministerial Regulations N° 002/2012/MINIRENA on the regional certification mechanism are discussed in 3T, gold and traceability.

Faults, offences and the sanctions ladder

The Law distinguishes administrative faults, sanctioned by RMB (Articles 50 to 62), from criminal offences, tried by the courts (Articles 63 to 70). Faults are graduated. Minor reporting and site breaches, such as late or false reports, keeping documents away from the site, suspending work without notice or failing to fix boundaries, attract a fixed administrative fine of RWF 500,000 for a mining licence holder (Article 51) and RWF 300,000 for a quarry licence holder (Article 56). Failing to pay sums due, refusing access to inspectors, or failing to insure, properly pay or equip employees leads to provisional suspension (Articles 52 and 57). Failing without cause to start work on time, persistent non-payment, breach of licence terms or of a suspension decision, and an unlawful transfer lead to cancellation (Articles 53 and 58), after which the holder has 90 days to rehabilitate the site and clear its liabilities (Article 37). The licence-level sanctions are tabulated in Mining licences and quarry licences.

Among the criminal offences, mining without a licence carries two to five years' imprisonment and a fine of RWF 25,000,000 to RWF 50,000,000, or one of these penalties, and a legal person faces RWF 60,000,000 to RWF 80,000,000 and possible dissolution, with confiscation of the minerals and reinstatement of the site (Article 63). The offences of possessing and trading illegally extracted minerals are covered in 3T, gold and traceability. RMB's decisions may be challenged within RMB and then in court (Regulatory, tax and public law disputes).