DIMENSION STONE INDUSTRY STATUS IN UGANDA
Vincent Kato
Dimension stone industry is still in its infancy and has not developed much in Uganda.
There is virtually no organized mechanized local production at present or raw block
export. This is despite the abundance of raw materials ascribed to varied Ugandan
metamorphic and igneous geology. Although the market is rather small, nevertheless it is
growing rapidly. Raw material sources include vast amounts of massive hard magmatic,
volcanic, metamorphic and massive soft sedimentary rocks all over Uganda. Some of
these rocks have been exploited at artsanal small-scale for flooring, cladding, paving and
as building stone.
Photo: Staircase made of granite tile
M/s Premier Stone Ltd has shown interest in the industry and has accordingly applied for
Exploration Licenses in three areas. The major problem hindering the industry has been
the high initial capital investment and maintance costs of extractive and processing
machinery. High electricity tariffs and labor charges has scared away the would be
potential investors. A few companies are importing granite and marble slabs from India,
Kenya, Zimbabwe, China, Italy and Egypt. These are involved in producing tiles,
tabletops, kitchen tops and reception tops. There is a growing demand of dimension stone
products due the ever-increasing growth rate in the construction industry (8.5%
annually). A huge market exits in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and
Southern Sudan, which create an incentive to any potential investor in the industry.
Photo: Wall cladded with granite blocks
Uganda is endowed with hard massive rocks like granites (pink, grey, reddish and
greenish varieties), banded and foliated gneisses, migmatites gabbros, quartzite
amphibolites, diorites well as massive soft rocks like marble (pink and white), limestone,
travertine, sandstone, dolomite. Others include slabby rocks like slates, flagstone, laterite
and volcanic tuffs. These are abundant are currently locally quarried for construction
aggregates, building stones, slates (flooring and cladding), cement and lime manufacture.
The country boosts of huge massive deposits of metamorphic and igneous rocks. These
are all near major high ways and population centers.
Photo: granite blocks for pavers
A few firms have made failed attempts to develop the dimension stone industry in
Uganda due to high initial capital investment and operating costs anticipated. Currently
Ms Uganda Marble and Granite Ltd, Granite Homes Ltd and Millennium Marble (2000)
Ltd are importing granite and marble slabs from India, Kenya, China, Zimbabwe and
Egypt to supply the local market. These firms deal in tiles, kitchen tops, counter tops,
vanity tops, tabletops, ornaments, and pavers. Among the Firms supplied with
construction materials include Bank of Baroda, Kabira International School, and Serena
Hotel. About 50,000 square meters of both granite and marble slabs are imported every
year. M/s Premier Stone Ltd (Stone World Ltd) has applied for Exploration Licence to
carry out a feasibility study of developing Dimension stone industry in Uganda. In their
study they hope to look at market assessment, technological feasibility, social
desirability, ecological soundness, production assessment and financial modeling. They
hope to use locally fabricated machinery, which they hope are cheap, affordable and
simple to maintain. They have carried out tests on granites at laboratory scale and
produced good polished sections.
Photo: Bathroom top made of marble.
About 26 granites in western and eastern Uganda have been sampled. Ms Premier Stone
Ltd has carried out a research on the potential of using Ugandan slates as roofing slates.
Ms Industrial Minerals Ltd imported block-cutting machinery and tried it on Kisoro
volcanic tuffs but has since abandoned the cutting due to other commitments. Others
activities in dimension stone industry include local production of building stones, at a
local small-scale from welded volcanic tuffs in Fort Portal, Bunyaruguru, Kapchorwa,
Kabale and Kisoro.
A number of houses are build from blocks crudely shaped from welded tuffs. Others
include slates and granite blocks extracted for flooring, cladding and as building stones
for small-scale local market.
Photo: Brick kiln chambers at Butema (Hoima) made of laterite blocks
A number of problems have hindered the development of dimension stone industry in
Uganda. These include among others the high investment and maintenance costs of
extractive and processing machinery. European machinery as well as Chinese and Indian
machinery has proved too costly for local Ugandan investors. The high investment and
maintenance costs raise production costly in addition to high electricity tariffs and
production labor. It is claimed that it is sometimes cheaper to import slabs from India or
China than extracting and processing dimension stone in Uganda. Other problems
encountered include lack of unique aesthetic varieties to compete with varieties already
on market and the uncertainty of market availability. Lack of trained manpower and
competition from existing dimension stone producing firms has hindered the industry.
Photo: Tile from gneiss and gabbro
Locally available, simple and affordable alternative improved technology will solve the
dimension stone extracting and processing technology problems. The problem of high
costs of extractive and processing machinery can be overcome by improvising and
fabricating this machinery locally, which need low investment and operating costs. This
has been done successfully in Kenya and it is a success story to tell about. Experienced
personnel from other African countries cannot be avoided. Hi-Tech Granite Industries
Ltd succeeded in fabricating cutting and polishing machines. These manual machines are
effective and less costly, can be easily operated and repaired. The company has manual
and automated machines but not highly sophisticated.
Photo: Granite seats
A tile-cutting machine was estimated to have costed about 350,000 K Shs while another
was costed at about 150,000 K shs. These have simple operation and maintenance. An
automated polishing machine would cost about 300,000 K shs while manual polishing
machine would cost about 50,000 K shs. Motors are costing not more than 10,000 K shs.
The company buys blades and fixes diamond bits. This copped with simple extraction
using a compressor and wedges makes production cheaper. Blocks from the quarry are
loaded using pulleys. There is a lot waste produced during the extraction and processing
of dimension stone products. A waste utilization scheme would be incorporated in the
dimension stone industry to boost the income generating capacity of the firm. Magnum
Engineers Ltd (Kenya) can fabricate the processing machinery at 3,800,000 K shs
including installation and commissioning.
Producing dimension stone using locally available material, using simple technology at
low cost will help in reducing import expenditure and create new local job opportunities.
New labor skills will be imported and the government will broaden its tax base. This will
contribute to the modernization of the building industry. There is a tax waver for mining
and quarrying machinery.