Uganda earned US$3.4 billion from gold exports in 2024, which was around 37% of the country's total export revenue, and nearly all the domestic production is from small-scale artisanal miners. Its gold export earnings increased in recent years, while it is still far behind Africa's largest bullion producer, Ghana, which earned US$11.6 billion from the export of gold last year.

Uganda has launched its first large-scale gold mine, a US$250 million Chinese-owned project, and the plant will refine the bullion to 99.9% purity. 

Wagagai Mining (U) Limited owns the project, which covers nine square kilometres in the Busia district. The plant is expected to process 5,000 tons of gold ore daily, and the refined gold output will be around 1.2 metric tons annually. Uganda will use the gold revenue to build national assets such as power stations and railways.