The policy intent
Uganda's mineral policy since the 2022 Act has pushed consistently toward domestic value addition: refine and process in-country, export the product rather than the ore. Royalty and licensing design both point the same way.
The feedstock problem
Refineries need input they can accept under international due diligence rules. A large share of Ugandan gold historically originated in artisanal and small-scale workings with no documentation, which no accredited refiner can process at scale without exposure.
The unlock is formalisation: licensed concessions producing to a documented standard. Each medium-scale operator that converts informal ground into an auditable operation adds compliant feedstock to the national pool, which is the mechanism by which beneficiation policy actually becomes throughput.
Implication for operators
Operators with existing chain-of-custody discipline and refiner relationships are positioned to be the preferred domestic suppliers of that capacity rather than competitors to it.