Tanzania is furthr tightening the control of mining industry in the country. A senior official announced Friday large-scale licences will be issued only after approval of cabinet unlike issued through ministry.
The John Magufuli government is seeking for a bigger return from mining. The country has vast mineral resources and is also fourth-largest gold producer in Africa.
Addressing to the member of parliament the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Palamagamba Kabudi said, “The whole government, through the cabinet, will now be involved in approving licences for large-scale mining companies to make sure that national interests are safeguarded.”
He added for years the country has not seen investments for the benefit of Tanzania, but just presided over exploitation of natural resource wealth.
In 2017 the country overhauled fiscal and regulatory regime of the industry and this unnerved foreign investors.
The country also confirmed not to sign the new mineral development agreements (MDAs) to guarantee any stable tax regime for those mining companies which are already operating like gold mine owned by Anglogold Ashanti and London-listed Acacia Mining Plc.
Last July the president suspended further issue of all new mining licences until new regulatory regime was prepared and placed. A ban on copper and gold concentrates was also enforced.
Acacia Mining disclosed loss of $700 million following the ban in copper and gold concentrates. It’s shares dropped 30 percent too.
Acacia’s interim chief executive Peter Geleta then said, “Challenges in our operating environment led to our production guidance being revised during 2017, whilst the ongoing ban on the export of gold/copper concentrate meant that we were unable to export and sell 185,800 ounces of produced gold which led to a substantial cash outflow.”
