Rwanda enacts Law n° 072/2024 on mining and quarry operations, repealing 2018 mining law and overhauling licensing, value-addition and strategic-minerals regime

Mechanism

Law n° 072/2024 is Rwanda's primary statutory instrument governing the mining and quarry sector. It replaces the 2018 Mining Law and introduces a more centralised licensing architecture administered through the Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RMB) under the supervising Ministry of Natural Resources / Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA), with enforcement involvement by the Ministry of Interior (MININTER).

Key changes:

• Strategic-minerals designation power. Article authorising the

competent organ to designate certain minerals as strategic and reserve exclusive State rights over them in the public interest. This is the legal foothold for any future export-restriction or state-equity moves on 3T or critical minerals.

• Land regime. Where a licence holder pays fair compensation,

the underlying land is registered to the State (not the licensee), reinforcing the public-domain character of mineral resources.

• Penalty escalation. Illegal mining: up to 5 years imprisonment

and RWF 80m fine. Illegal mineral trading: up to 10 years and RWF 150m. These are sharp uplifts vs. the 2018 regime and target the cross-border smuggling channels (notably eastern DRC 3T material entering Rwanda for processing).

• Quarry operations are explicitly brought within the same

statutory umbrella (the 2018 law was less prescriptive on quarrying).

A companion fiscal statute (Law n° 056/2024 of 26/06/2024 establishing tax on minerals) was enacted the same day and operates under separate tax-policy authority — it will be filed separately as the next queue item.

Downstream implications

• Operationalises Rwanda's 3T processing-hub strategy by giving RMB

cleaner statutory authority to direct concentrate flows and licence smelting/refining capacity.

• Strategic-minerals designation power is a contingent lever: not yet

exercised, but creates a domestic legal basis for future export restrictions analogous to DRC, Zimbabwe or Indonesia patterns.

• Increased penalties signal a tightening posture toward informal /

smuggled flows from neighbouring DRC, with implications for cross-border 3T traceability (ITSCI / RMI conflict-minerals due-diligence).

• First standalone RW filing in the IPTM register — establishes the

baseline statutory environment against which any subsequent Rwandan critical-minerals or export-control actions will be filed.

Open questions

• Has the competent organ formally designated any mineral as

"strategic" under the new Article? (No public designation found as of filing date.)

• Implementing regulations / ministerial orders setting licensing

fees, royalty schedules, and 3T-specific export rules — are these in force, drafted, or pending?

• Interaction with the East African Community common-market mining

protocol and bilateral DRC concentrate-import arrangements.