Mineral processing in Tanzania: Geita nets over Sh130m in 10 days

Dar es Salaam. At least Sh137.9 million royalties and Sh22 million mineral inspection fees were collected in Geita region from 40 permits for mineral processing between June 1 and June 9.

This was revealed in parliament on Thursday, June 14, by the Minister for Minerals, Ms Angela Kairuki.

The money will likely surpass the collection recorded in May when the region pocketed royalties totalling Sh210 million from about 42,000 grams of gold worth Sh3.5 billion.

‘We achieved a lot in just 10 days since the ban was announced. It is our belief that the ban will help the government collect sufficient revenue, something which will boost economic activities around mining sites,” she said.

Ms Kairuki was responding to a question from  the Tarime Rural MP (Chadema), Mr John Heche.

According to the minister, all the raw minerals should be processed in the region where they are extracted in order to enable the government to collect the enough revenue, royalties and minimise mineral smuggling.

Ms Kairuki went on to explain that so far, there are mineral processing plants in almost all regions where mining activities take place.

“They are in Geita, Shinyanga, Tabora, Dodoma, Songwe and Singida. Other regions have already allocated plots where they will install the plants,” she said.

However, Mr Heche said he was satisfied with the government’s response saying the minister provided false information.

The outspoken Chadema lawmaker echoed by Nyamagana MP (CCM) Stanslaus Mabula who said the ban would result into closure of the plants in Mwanza considering that majority of the owners borrowed capital.

After weighing contributions from the lawmakers, chairman of the parliament, Mr John Chenge, instructed the government to revisit the decision.