Tanzania finalising permit for its first rare-earth metals mine

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Tanzania finalising permit for its first rare-earth metals mine

9:52 CAT | 09 Nov 2020

Tanzania - Ngualla - Drill sites on Ngualla Hill looking south-east. 8File photo: Peak Resources]

Government preparing licenses for Peak Resources, OreCorp
State targeting 33% jump in mining income over three years

Tanzania is in the final stages of approving a permit for the country’s first rare earths mine to ASX-listed Australian company Peak Resources as the government seeks a bigger share of revenue from natural resources.

The state is also finalising a gold-mining permit for another Australian company, OreCorp at the Nyanzaga project in the northwest of the country, according to mining minister Doto Biteko.

Peak Resources applied for the special mining licence in 2017 to mine neodymium and praseodymium at world’s largest undeveloped site.

The East African nation is Africa’s fourth-biggest producer of the precious metal and plans to increase mineral earnings by at least a third during the next three years. It also has vast deposits of coal, rare-earth metals, iron ore and gemstones.

“The government is in the final stages of awarding a special mining operating licence to PR NG Minerals for it’s Ngualla rare earth project,” Biteko said. The company is a subsidiary of Australia-listed Peak Resources.

Rare earths are used in components for electric vehicles, smartphones, renewable energy equipment and defence applications.

Joint ventures

Gold mining, now Tanzania’s leading foreign-exchange earner, is recovering after a slump after a crackdown on smuggling and a drawn-out dispute between the government and a unit of Barrick Gold Corp. froze exports.

The government intends to increase mining revenue to 701.1-billion shillings in 2023/2024, from a projected 526.7bibillion shillings now. Tanzania will “increase revenues from the mining sector by 33%” by boosting production and exports, curbing smuggling and ensuring closer supervision of the industry,BiBiteko said.

In October, the government received its first cash dividend of $40m from a 16% stake in a joint venture with Barrick. Tanzania plans to use the Barrick partnership as a model when negotiating joint-ownership deals with all major mining companies, including with AngloGold Ashanti, in line with mining laws passed in 2017, he said.