A Chinese-owned gold mining company has handed over a primary school it built in Busia District, eastern Uganda, near Alupe, where its mine operates.
Wagagai Mining (U) Limited said the new Alupe Primary School in Mawero Parish, Buteba Sub-county, cost about Shs3.8bn and can take 600 learners.
The company said it also paid to rebuild St James Church of Uganda in the same community.
The Rt Rev Samuel George Bogere Egesa was chief guest at the handover ceremony on Friday.
The school is close to the Wagagai gold mine, which President Yoweri Museveni commissioned in Busia District on 16 August 2025 as the country’s first large-scale gold mine.
Tan Jiuchang, Wagagai’s general manager, said the company did not judge its success by gold output alone.
“For us, success is not measured only by how much gold we produce, but also by what we leave behind,” he said.
He said the firm employs more than 2,000 Ugandans and has previously built schools, extended clean water to four villages, and repaired roads, bridges and housing in the area.
Stephen Wafula, a public relations officer at the company, said the school handover would not end Wagagai’s involvement with it.
“This handover is not the end of our partnership with Alupe Primary School. It is just the beginning of our long-term support,” he said.
Humphrey Asiimwe, chief executive of the Uganda Chamber of Energy and Minerals, said the investment would outlast the mine.
“Mines will take you 10 to almost 20 years and that will be the end of it. But education is everlasting,” he said.
Bishop Egesa urged residents to make full use of the school so their children could benefit.
John Charles Namayindi, the Busia District chairperson, said relations between the company and the district had improved greatly under the new district leadership, and pledged the local government’s support for Wagagai.
The school’s head teacher, Philipine Adengero, described how far it had come.
“Alupe was a desert, a place with no teachers, no learners, and no finances, but today, we celebrate its transformation,” she said.
She also thanked the office of the district’s Chief Administrative Officer for working with the company.
Phillip Ekisa, the village chairperson, called the school a major milestone that would bring education closer to families in the area.
The Wagagai project is a Chinese-owned development worth about Shs940bn that also refines gold to 99.9% purity. The company has been reported to be a subsidiary of China’s Liaoning Hongda Group.
According to the government, the mine covers about 9.2 sq km and has proven ore reserves of 30 million tonnes, enough for 20 years of production, and should yield about 1.2 tonnes of refined gold a year at full capacity.
Uganda earned about Shs12.7tn from gold exports in 2023, about 37% of its export revenue, though that figure includes re-exported gold, and nearly all domestic output comes from small-scale artisanal miners.
The project has faced local disputes. Families affected by the project earlier rejected the company’s offer of compensation for their land, saying it was too low.
Some artisanal miners in Busia have said they are being pushed out as large-scale operations expand, while the Iteso Cultural Union has demanded a share of the district’s mining royalties, accusing local leaders of leaving its community out.
In December 2025, Wagagai began building fences at government schools in Buteba Sub-county, saying it wanted to protect learners and school land from encroachers.
