Balancing Rights of Surface Rights Holders and Mineral Rights Holders

Surface rights means the exclusive right to use land, or the surface of the land, or a right of entry onto land required by the holder of a mineral right or licence for the purpose of carrying out mineral operations. A holder of a mineral right must acquire written consent of the owner of a surface right in order to carry out mining activities on the land.

Owners of surface rights include the registered owner, customary owner, lawful or bonafide occupant, or the duly authorised agent of such persons. A holder of a mineral right may acquire a lease or other right like tenancy, licence etc for the period of the licence from the owner and may agree with other persons having an interest on the land. Where the mining activities are significant to government, the land may be acquired compulsorily through a process of compulsory land acquisition in accordance with the law.

Where a holder of a mineral right and the registered owner, customary owner, lawful occupant or bonafide occupant fail to agree on the issue of value of the land, the parties may utilise the service of the Chief Government Valuer to assess and recommend an award of compensation to the registered owner, customary owner, lawful occupant or bonafide occupant of the land or refer the matter to be determined through arbitration within thirty days from the date the matter is submitted for arbitration. Matters concerning non payment of compensation or value of the land are required to be referred to arbitration.

In assessing any rent payable, an arbitrator must determine the rent in relation to values, at the time of arbitration, current in the area in which the mining licence is situated, for land of a similar nature, but without taking into account any enhanced value due to the presence of minerals. A land owner may opt for compensation or a share in the royalties under The Mining and Minerals Act 2022.

Surface rights and surface rights owners

The table below shows the surface rights owners and requirements.

Surface right owner	Surface area limits	area
Land owner or occupant		Places of burial, place of religious significance, site of a public building
Land owner or occupant	200 metres or more	Site of inhabited house, un occupied house,
Land owner or occupant	5 metres	Land cleared for ploughing or prepared for agricultural crops
Railways authority	50 metres	Land reserved for railway track
Local authority having control of city or township	200 metres	Of the boundaries of a city or town
NEMA	200 metres	From any river
Authority having control over such lands		Land comprising of street, road, power station, aerodrome, oil well heads,
Uganda Wild Life Authority		National park or game reserve
NEMA		swamp
National Forestry Authority		Forest reserve
Community concerned		Cultural sites

A holder of a mineral right must not at any time, in the exercise of the rights  interfere with or perform any act which may interfere with the exercise of any right of passageway in the area covered by such mineral right or perform any act which may damage or tend to damage any passageway, without first obtaining the consent in writing of the holder of the right of passageway; except that in the case of customary public rights of passageway, or where the holder of the right of passageway cannot be found by the person requiring his or her consent, the consent of the Chief Administrative Officer of the district concerned shall be deemed sufficient consent.

However, the holder of a mineral right may  divert any public path within the area of his or her licence, where the diversion is made entirely within the area held by him or her and is aligned and maintained to the satisfaction of the Chief Administrative Officer of the district concerned; and on conclusion of the exploration or mining operations, the affected public path is restored to the condition in which it was before the interference.

Rights in water and wet land are vested in government by applicable laws and a holder of a mineral right utilising any of such resources must do so in accordance with regulations regarding the above resources.