AT A CROSSROADS: Regional mineral markets a game changer for Tanzania
One Joseph Temba from Shinyanga has been in the news of late. The “poor” small scale miner recently joined the USD millionaires club. This was after he mined a 512 carat diamond, which he sold it for about $1.4 million, which translates to about Sh3 billion. Talk of instant rags to riches story, of legends and how history is made!
Dr Kitila Mkumbo, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Water tweeted that the diamond was the biggest ever to be found/mined in the country. A happy Mr Temba urged fellow miners to follow guidelines set by the government in selling their minerals. Maybe such a sale is a sign of better things to come for mama Tanzania.
Once upon a time, smuggling minerals out of Tanzania was a way of life. This was pathetic. Kenya and India were the leading exporters of tanzanite, which is only found in Tanzania! Officially, no one knew how the mineral from dear motherland found its way to other nations, denying the country the much-needed revenue.
After Dr Kitila tweeted, one Aisa Nkya Muya @Aisa_Muya noted the sale was “an inspiration for small scale miners” But asked, “How many such large diamonds have been smuggled out of country unnoticed in the past many years?”
Then the 5th phase government came and started sealing smuggling loopholes. It also has launched several mineral markets, like the one where Mr Temba sold his diamond.
Both the Executive and Parliament have been very candid that Tanzanians dealing in the mining sector should use the new markets and put to an end any smuggling of precious minerals. Yes, this should be the way.
No wonder the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Monthly Economic Review of April 2019 indicates that the value of gold exported grew by 9.8 per cent to$1,684.6 million, this almost accounted for almost half of nontraditional exports.
According to the 2019/2020 fiscal estimates tabled in Parliament recently, by March 2019, Tanzania earned Sh244 billion- from minerals, 72 per cent of total collections, being from royalties and inspection fee. The rest was from other sources of revenue like annual fees and geological survey fees.
With the new markets, we expect not only gold, diamond and tanzanite exports to grow, but also other minerals in Tanzania. Our land is rich in iron ore, nickel, copper, cobalt, silver and so on.
When we come to smuggling apart from the government losing revenue, small scale miners can never get the best prices. In the open markets established by the government, the value for money is more assured.
The miners cannot be conned and robbed of their hard-earned sweat like in the black market, where there was no security.
Caution, the story of Mr Temba becoming a millionaire looks so simple. But we must be aware that many times small scale miners go through hell before they make any discoveries. Some of them work for months, for years before they don’t get any substantial mineral. Small scale mining is for those who are very hardworking, those who are willing to give it all to strenuous physical activities and be very patient.
In many cases, the small scale miners use low-cost, low-technology, labour-intensive excavation. Their processing minerals, especially gold is nothing to talk home about. Hopefully, the new markets will bring in thoughts of improving the mining safety standards of the artisan miners, and hence be a game changer for Tanzania.
It is apparent that a huge number of people are involved in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) across the country. The new markets and data being collected by government agencies most likely will inform the real potential of the ASM versus large scale miners.
Saumu Jumanne is an Assistant Lecturer, Dar es Salaam University College of Education
