HORIZON 35

Our thinking

Why this works, and why the timing is right

Four short white papers set out the reasoning behind Horizon 35. Each one is sourced and written for readers who are new to mining.

1
White paper · 5 pages

Starting Where Others Stopped

Why restarting known mines and reprocessing old tailings reaches formal jobs years sooner than new mines.

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2
White paper · 4 pages

The Window Is Open

Export controls, new U.S. sourcing rules and rising demand have opened a rare, time-bound opportunity.

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3
White paper · 4 pages

The Job Multiplier Effect

How one formal mining job supports about ten across the economy, and why the wages matter as much as the count.

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4
White paper · 6 pages

Mining Creates Jobs, Processing Creates Value

Countries need a competitive advantage just as companies do. For ore-rich countries, processing is how they build it.

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In brief

What each paper argues

1

Starting Where Others Stopped

The case for decommissioned mines and tailings as the fastest path to formal mining jobs

  • Many mines close for reasons that have little to do with geology, and the ore and processing waste they leave often still hold value.
  • Restarting a known site skips most of the 16-plus years a new mine takes to reach production.
  • Reprocessing old tailings recovers metal that older plants missed and pays for cleaning up the site.
  • Records are incomplete and historic estimates are not modern resources, so we put data first and let the evidence choose the mineral.

PDF · 5 pages · October 2026

2

The Window Is Open

Why the next few years favor ore-rich countries that build their own mining and processing capability

  • Critical-mineral demand is set to almost double by 2040, while refining stays concentrated in one country that now restricts exports.
  • From January 1, 2027, U.S. defense buyers may not purchase tungsten or tantalum mined or refined in China, Russia, Iran or North Korea.
  • Producing countries, Uganda among them, are restricting raw-ore exports and requiring processing at home.
  • Supply relationships formed in the next few years will set the market for decades.

PDF · 4 pages · October 2026

3

The Job Multiplier Effect

How one formal mining job supports about ten across the economy, and why mining is one of the strongest tools for creating well-paid local work

  • About 4.2 million young Ugandans have no job, school or training, and most workers have no contract.
  • Formal mining pays above a living wage, lasts for decades, builds careers and makes hand-dug work safe.
  • Each mine job supports about six in its supply chain and about ten in all, building over several years.
  • We hold every operation to a living-wage floor and use machinery to grow output rather than cut people.

PDF · 4 pages · October 2026

4

Mining Creates Jobs, Processing Creates Value

Why mineral wealth becomes a national competitive advantage only when a country can process what it mines

  • Countries compete the way companies do: the ones that prosper build a distinctive capability and specialize in it.
  • Minerals in the ground are an advantage on paper. Processing capability is what makes that advantage competitive.
  • Many mines feed one plant, so the system is built in clusters: mines first, processing once the feed is secure.
  • Our goal in Uganda is one million jobs in five to ten years, built through mining, processing and the economy around them.

PDF · 6 pages · October 2026

Figures in these papers are drawn from public sources and from Horizon 35 planning models. Planning figures are estimates, not forecasts, and are refined as site-level data comes in. Nothing here is an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security.