DAILY NEWS REPORTER
This comes in the wake of reports which put India and Kenya as among leading exporters of the gem despite the fact that the gemstone is found only in Mererani Hills, Manyara Region, in Tanzania.
The move also comes when there is fragile relationship between TanzaniteOneMine Limited (TML) and the so-called small miners in which the latter are intruding Block C area owned by the former. In a related move, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, Prof Justin Ntalikwa, said patrols by police have been strengthened to put at bay smugglers of the gemstone.
A number of smugglers, according to the PS, have been nabbed in a number of impromptu patrols involving security organs at district and regional levels in Manyara. “We have been facing a number of challenges at Mererani most notably smuggling, cheating of government taxes in addition to conflicts pitting small-miners and Tanzanite One,” Prof Ntalikwa told the ‘Daily News’ in his office last week.
He added; “The option of fencing-off the area is however very costly but we plan to secure funds through the Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources Project (SMMRP) funded by the World Bank.”
The project was initiated to strengthen the capacity of the government to manage the mineral sector to improve the socioeconomic impacts of mining for Tanzania and Tanzanians and enhance private local and foreign investment.
Prof Ntalikwa said the government is mulling-over engaging the World Bank in implementing the ambitious project which will enable the government to monitor production of Tanzanite.
The PS went on to explain that lack of suitable facility to sell the gem has prompted producers to seek markets in neighbouring countries and this has encouraged smuggling through illegal routes on the country’s porous borders. “We have so far managed to acquire a plot in Arusha where a facility to be called Madini House will be set up for selling Tanzanite and other gemstones,” he explained.
Prof Ntalikwa was confident that that the marketplace will enable miners to sell Tanzanite in the country where the government will collect its share of revenues.
“The so-called small-scale miners mine a substantial amount of Tanzanite, which they smuggle to Kenya since most of them do not have licences. “There have been efforts to encourage them to acquire the permits and 272 miners and traders have now acquired the licences,” he explained.
Prof Ntalikwa as well took issues with the large-scale miner in the area, TanzaniteOne, which he accused of under-declaring production to cheat the government of requisite taxes. “TanzaniteOne currently has three shareholders but we have found out the shareholders themselves do not trust each other,” he revealed during the interview.
To curb the cheating, Prof Ntalikwa said the ministry is deploying additional auditors from the Tanzania Minerals Audit Agency (TMAA) to monitor production at the mine to check under-declaration.
In regard to conflicts between miners, which is caused by intrusion, “commonly known as mtoboano” in Mererani, the PS said miners have been instructed to use Geographical Positioning System (GPS) devices when conducting mining activities underground.
“Intrusion has been causing conflicts and sometimes deaths between the miners. The best way of not intruding into other miners’ block is to use the GPS devices. Even when you are underground you will be able to know the coordinates for your licensed block,” he stated.
With such measures in place, the PS was upbeat that revenues from the rare gemstone will improve this year and put Tanzania on the World map as the sole and lead producer of the jewel.
According to the Acting Managing Director of TML, Mr Modestus Apolinary, the intrusion (mitobozano) by small miners had caused massive damages to the company and denied the government billions of shillings in terms of revenues.
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