Africa-Press – Tanzania. TANZANIA has continued reaping benefits from its abun- dant natural resources as it signed four new agreements with mining companies to jointly execute major projects, a move which is anticipated to further develop the sector and beef up the country’s economy.
At the signing ceremony, which was witnessed by President Samia Suluhu Hassan in Dar es Salaam, on Monday, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Minerals Prof Simon Msanjila said, the new development was yet another step forward in helping the country’s economy to grow further.
During the event, the government also issued licences to Nyanzaga Gold mine, Fungoni heavy mineral sands project in Kigamboni, Mahenge Graph- ite Project and framework agreement with Petra diamond signaling commencement of the mining activities.
Speaking over the expected Nyanzaga project, Prof Msanjila said the undertaking will earn the government US$1.2 billion (about 2.8tri) in taxes and royalties.
The government signed a contract with the Sotta Mining Corporation Limited to jointly implement the Nyanzaga project.
“The operation of this mine within 15 years is expected to produce 6,000 kg of gold and produce 1,000 direct jobs and several indirect jobs,” said Prof Msanjila.
The other three projects are to be implemented jointly with Strandline Resources mining company (Fungoni heavy mineral sands project in Kigambo- ni), Black Rock Mining (Faru graphite – Mahenge) and Petra Diamond (Williamson Mine project).
In his remarks, Managing Director of Strandline Resources Limited, Mr James Peter said: “we are extremely excited to be here today to execute this very important strategic Framework Agreement with the Government of Tanzania and continuing our large investment in Tanzania as we move towards full development of the Fungoni heavy mineral sands project in Kigamboni and the Tajiri heavy mineral sands project in the Pangani-Tanga region.”
He said the signing marks a very important joint venture between the Government of Tanzania and Strandline Resources Limited into forming the joint venture company called Nyati Mineral Sands Limited, “Nyati”.
Nyati will construct the irst major mineral sands (beach sands) mine in Tanzania (the Fungoni project), which will be a project of national importance to create wealth and opportunity for Tanzania.
Nyati’s projects will produce ‘critical minerals’ of zircon, titanium and monazite containing rare earths.
These industrial minerals are used in everyday life applications and are vital to the economic health of the world’s major and emerging econo- mies.
They are used in applica- tions such as ceramics tiles, paint, ink, plastics, electronics, aerospace, medical applica- tions, defense, the construction industry and electrical vehicles.
On his part, Matthew Yates, Chairman of Sotta Min- ing Corporation Limited said they welcomed the government as a founding shareholder and joint venture partner in the newly formed Sotta Mining Corporation Limited.
Mr Yates said the joint- venture project will produce an average of over 200,000 ounces or six tonnes of gold every year for over a decade.
It will generate 1,000 jobs directly and thousands more indirectly.
And, if the gold price holds above $1800/oz, it will deliver over US$1 billion in taxes and royalties to the government and Tanzanians.
“We are confident that today is just the start for Nyanzaga and that, as with all the other large-scale gold mines in Tanzania, this initial mine life will be significantly ex- tended through further work and discovery.
To make all this happen OreCorp will be mak- ing an initial investment of approximately 700bn /- to construct the mine and associated processing plant,” he assured.
On the other hand, the Blackrock Mining Company, which will jointly implement the Faru Graphite – Mahenge Project, said with Monday’s agreement the stage is set for commencement of implementation of the project.
Recent modeling conducted as part of the negotiation of the Free Carried Interest agreement with the government indicates that the Government’s share of the benefits of the project is 50 per cent.
However, when considering input costs such as power, rail haulage and port services, the net share of benefits remaining in Tanzania exceeds 66 per cent of total project cash flows.
In monetary terms Black Rock’s current estimates of the expected benefits directly flowing to Tanzania from development of the Mahenge Project are near US$3.6 bil- lion, which includes dividends, taxation, royalties and clearance fees.
The Framework Agreement, amongst other things, provides for a strengthened partnership between the government and Petra Diamonds, the sharing of economic ben- efits in the ratio of 55 cent in favour of the government and 45 per cent for Petra Diamonds and further beneficiation of our diamonds in the country.
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