Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Minister for Minerals, Dotto Biteko has said that procedures for launching Mwanza Precious Metals Refinery, capable of purifying gold by 99.99 per cent, would be finalised this month.
The plant will have the capacity of refining 480 kilogrammes of gold per day, thus contributing significantly to the country’s economic growth.
Speaking during a seminar for the Parliamentary Committee on Energy and Minerals on laws and regulations governing the country’s mining sector, Mr Biteko said so far, there are three gold refineries under construction in the country.
The refineries are in the regions of Geita, Mwanza and Dodoma with capacities of refining 500gk, 480kg and 50kg per day respectively.
He assured that once the Mwanza Precious Metals Refinery becomes operational, it would make the country sell purified gold at a higher price.
“Price of the gold itself will increase because it will be totally purified and be sold at an end price. The plant will also create 100 employments at the initial phase of operation,” he said.
He termed the development as a big revolution in the mining sector, since such technology never existed in the past when gold mined in Tanzania had to be sent to Dubai or Swaziland for refining.
“Trials have been made in this new refinery plant and we have got good results. Therefore, we will soon start purifying our gold in the factory,” Mr Biteko noted.
He said some of the regulations presented to the Parliamentary Committee were those governing the Tanzania Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (TEITI), whereby the country has made a big step in meeting the requirements.
Initially, there were 18 requirements that Tanzania had not met, but currently they have remained with only seven that seem to contradict with the country’s laws.
Commenting, Chairperson of the Committee, Mr Dustan Kitandula, said building capacity among members of the committee was crucial to improve their supervision on the sector and the government.
“Basically, we are satisfied that these regulations meet expectations, there are minor changes needed, but this cannot affect performance and supervision of the mining sector,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Katavi Region through its minerals market in Mpanda Town has collected and sold gold weighing 505 kilogrammes and 632 grammes worth over 53bn/- from July 2019 to 2020, reports Peti Siyame from Mpanda.
Katavi Regional Commissioner Mr Juma Homera told the ‘Daily News’ yesterday during an exclusive interview, saying Katavi is among the five regions famous for mining activities across the country.
Expounding Mr Homera explained that as per selling of gold worth over 53bn/- the government has earned over 3.4bn/- being 6.0 per cent of royalty collections and 533m/- being a 1.0 per cent of inspection fees. According to the RC, Nsimbo Council and Mpanda District Council together have pocketed 160m/-.
“When I reported here in 2019 as Regional Commissioner, the region had collected and sold only gold weighing 129 grammes but thereafter, the minerals market was established officially, which enabled the region to collect and sell gold weighing more than a half tonnes worth 53,300,000,000/- during a period of one and half year… This is a big achievement indeed,” noted the RC.
Mr Homera urged small scale miners and gold dealers to fully utilise the opportunity of having such an official market in their midst rather than smuggling minerals.
In another development, RC further told this paper that the region has also collected and sold silver weighing 391kgs of which the government has earned over 53m/- being both royalty and inspection fees.
