Tanzanian President John Magufuli has
said he will close all the mines if ...
mining companies delay negotiations to resolve a dispute over billions of dollars in back taxes which the government say they owe.
mining companies delay negotiations to resolve a dispute over billions of dollars in back taxes which the government say they owe.
President Magufuli on Friday
said it would be better to give those mines to Tanzanians to extract,
sell the minerals themselves and pay the taxes, rather than giving to
"people who call themselves investors with the intention of stealing
from Tanzanians.”
“After we discovered that trillions
of shillings were stolen, we called them for negotiations and they
agreed, but if they will continue delaying, I will close all mines and
give them to Tanzanians,” he said.
However, he admitted that the "economic war" that he had started was not easy.
“God will protect me and Tanzanians will keep praying for me because I am doing this for all Tanzanians.
"I know what I am saying. It’s trillions of shillings which have been stolen,” he said.
Shockwaves
President
Magufuli has sent shock-waves through the mining community in Africa's
fourth-largest gold producer since his election late in 2015 with
actions he says are aimed at ensuring that mining companies pay a fair
share of taxes.
Tanzania has passed new laws to
increase mining taxes, to force companies to re-negotiate their
contracts and to allow the state to own up to 50 percent of shares in
mining companies.
In March, it introduced a ban on exports of copper concentrate or mineral sand for processing abroad, which hit Acacia Mining, the biggest gold miner in the country.
Since
the ban, London-listed Acacia, majority owned by Barrick Gold, has
nearly halved in value. The company suspended its dividend for the first
time in February.
Acacia Mining said on Friday it
aimed to reinstate its dividend in early 2018 if Tanzania ended the
concentrate export ban. Acacia's shares were down more than 17 per cent
on Friday.
Acacia has been having trouble renewing work
permits for its international staff in Tanzania, Chief Executive Brad
Gordon told Reuters.
""We
were having difficulty getting work permits renewed. But no foreign
nationals have been asked to leave the country," Gordon said.
The
government has also accused Acacia of evading taxes worth billions of
dollars by under-declaring export volume and value of its minerals.
Acacia denies the allegations. The company said on July 4 it was seeking international arbitration to resolve the dispute.
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