BoT report shows gold gains dip 15pc

“It’s true that we have arrested the key suspect in the serial killings. He was captured in Tanga after well-coordinated intelligence work and has been taken to Tarime for final verification,” IGP Mangu said.PHOTO|FILE


By Miguel Suleyman ,The Citizen Reporter

IN SUMMARY

“Diamond, mined at Mwadui Williamson Mine performed well last year and the success could be attributed to resumption of activities,”

Mwanza. Revenue gained from gold sales last year has nose-dived by 14.8 per cent from $2,232.3 million in 2011/12 to $1,901.2 million at the end of December last year, shows the economic report for the Lake Zone.

An economist with Bank of Tanzania (BoT), Mr Musa Mziya, told participants during the regional consultative council meeting here that the drop in sales was attributed to low production and volatile price of gold in the world market.

Mr Mziya said the amount of gold mined during the year dropped to 37,796.3 kilos from 39. 544.8 kilos the zone produced in 2011/12.

But the worst of all last year, as Mr Mziya noted in his report was that gold price fell by 10.9 per cent, a situation he said stabilised the US dollar.

The situation was the same to small scale mining across the Lake Zone regions. The BoT report says production in the artisanal mining sector dropped by 55.8 per cent to $5.5 million from $9.4 million assailed in 2011/12.

The gold price to small scale miners also dropped to $ 3.9 an ounce in 2013 from $8.3 in 2012.

While gold reported a poor performance last year, the BoT report shows that diamond had a superb performance in terms of sales.

“Diamond, mined at Mwadui Williamson Mine performed well last year and the success could be attributed to resumption of activities,” he explained.

He said the sales in foreign market almost tripled from $11.5 million garnered in 2011/12 to $44.8 million hauled at the end of 2013. The value of diamond also reported an increase from $1.2 million in 2012 in small scale mining to $1.8 million at the end of last year.

“Diamond, mined by both big and small scale miners, had a relatively good season last year compared with gold,” he said.

Gold suffered its biggest fall in three decades, crashing through $1,400 (£913) an ounce as investors faced with a bear market turned to panic selling.