BUJUMBURA – Burundi announced the start of operations of African Mining Burundi, a local gold miner in which the government has a 15% stake, as the East African nation puts its mineral resources at the center of a planned economic resurgence.
The company has been granted rights to nine mining sites, President Pierre Nkurunziza said at a Monday ceremony in Burundi’s northeast Muyinga province, according to national radio. Nkurunziza said AMB was created in Burundi last year, but didn’t say who owns the remaining 85%.
Burundi has declared an end to a more than three-year political crisis and is seeking to attract investment to the landlocked nation, which has 6% of the world’s known nickel reserves as well as gold, coltan and rare-earth minerals. A 10-year development plan targets raising economic growth to 10.7% by 2017 and increasing revenue from minerals by 47%.