Yubdo (woreda)

Yubdo (woreda)

Yubdo is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Mirab (West) Welega Zone, Yubdo is bordered on the south by Nole Kaba, on the west by Kelem Welega Zone, on the northwest by Ayra Guliso, on the northeast by Lalo Asabi, on the east by Gimbi, and on the southeast by Haru. The administrative center of this woreda is Yubdo; other towns in Yubdo include Ganji.

Rivers in this woreda include the Karsa, a tributary of the Kobara. Coffee is an important cash crop of this woreda. Over 50 square kilometers are planted with this crop. Platinum occurs in this woreda, developed on serpentinized dunite, locally named Birbirite, after the River Birbir; the platinum probably being remobilized and concentrated by hydrothermal alteration in conjunction with shearing. The total reserves are about 12 tons, with an average grade of 0.34 gram/ton. An Italian miner named Alberto Prasso received a concession to mine this deposit in 1924. Prasso established a company in Paris, Société Minière des Concessions Prasso en Abyssinie, which employed as many as 2,600 workers and extracted 700 ounces in 1926, increased the annual output to 8,050 ounces in 1932, but it decreased to 6,300 ounces in 1933.