Ministry of Minerals highlights key milestones for 2023

Dar es Salaam. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Minerals, Kheri Mahimbali has said the ministry has laid a foundation for a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the mining sectors in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.

According to him, the MoU which is set to be signed later this month, aims to strengthen, reconcile and formalise systems among the sectors.

He said this when marking his first 100 days in the Ministry of Minerals where he mentioned some of his highlights including reviving discussions with development partners on financing the mining projects across the country.

He said the ministry has also migrated to electronic communication and information creation. A software solution, e-Office, is used to share information, conduct business, and manage documents.

“This pushes forward the green growth agenda by the government as per President Samia Suluhu Hassan commitment at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27) to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future (net-zero commitment) that includes reducing printing and postage emissions to help reach carbon-neutral goals,” he said.

He further noted that the Ministry has initiated the process to recruit an expert who will support the development of a 10-year mining strategy.

“This will complement other development plans whilst setting specific objectives for maximizing development outcomes of mineral resources exploitation,” said the PS.

He added: The Ministry also plans to engage a number of stakeholders, large and small, to get a better understanding of their concerns and find ways to address them while at the same time addressing some of the mining tax issues that investors faced in the last two years. In some cases that include challenges to big miners' quest to raise capital in the global markets, the Ministry will continue to work closely with its key stakeholders and government agencies to improve the tax regime in the mining industry.

According to him, they have also held discussions on leveraging partnerships for sustainable mining with representatives from various diplomatic missions in Tanzania and touched on a few topics, ranging from government-government opportunities to capacity development opportunities.

"To this end, India has committed to offer 400 scholarships for which we are very grateful. We hope other developing partners will follow suit," he stressed.

"Indeed it is an honour to have the chance to work in the sector that makes an important contribution to our economy where the third quarter of last year, the mining sector had a 9.7 per cent share of the GDP," he said.