Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa on Tuesday
visited a state-of-the-art gold smelter owned by Chinese firm Sunshine at
Chunya in southern highland region of Mbeya where he expressed his approval.
Sunshine Group, the Chinese company, has already invested
in the refinery plant in the area which could smelt gold by 99 percent,
officials said.
Speaking shortly after he had inspected the smelter,
Majaliwa said the government was considering inviting companies, including
Sunshine Group, to construct modern smelters for the processing of gold and
copper concentrates produced in Tanzania.
A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office said
Sunshine Group was among several companies that have expressed interest to
build smelters for gold and copper concentrates in the country.
Leo Le, Sunshine Group Director General, said the Group
was among Chinese firms that have hugely invested in Tanzania, adding that
Sunshine Group’s investments in the east African country were estimated at 100
million U.S. dollars.
Said Makwama, Mbeya region resident mining officer, told
the Prime Minister that the gold produced in the region was directly sold in
the global gold market, unlike the raw gold produced by large-scale mines in
the country that has to be sent to refineries outside the country for
purification.
Makwama said the recent overhaul of the legal, regulatory
and fiscal framework governing the country’s mining sector, which took
immediate effect last month, has already resulted in a sharp increase in
revenue collection from the sector.
He said this has been helped by the hike of royalty on
gold exports from 4 to 6 percent of gross value, and the introduction of a 1
percent clearance fee.
“In the month of July alone, the government received
151,363 dollars royalty from gold output at the Sunshine Group refinery,
compared to the 87,000 dollars per month it used to receive before the passage
of the new laws, which is a notable increase,” said Makwama.
The government in March banned further exports of gold
and copper concentrates to push for the construction of smelters in Tanzania to
ensure value addition of minerals.
The ban on exports of gold and copper concentrates has
hit hard the country’s biggest gold miner, Acacia Mining Plc, which has since
filed for international arbitration.
Most, if not all, of the existing large-scale mines in
Tanzania export semi-pure bars of gold, technically known as dores, which are
mainly sent to South Africa for purification.
Source: newsghana