EFFORTS by the government to bring sanity to the mining sector have started paying off after collecting revenue amounting to over 1.6bn/- from a single consignment of diamond.
Speaking to the press in Dar es Salaam,
yesterday, Minister of Minerals, Ms Angela Kairuki said last month
Williamson Diamond Limited, a company that operates at Mwadui in
Shinyanga, produced 39,567.96 carats of diamond that fetched 10.261
million US dollars (over 22bn/-) at the Antwerp market in Belgium on
Tuesday, this week.
According to the Minister, the total
revenue that the government collected in terms of royalty and inspection
fees from the sales amounted to 718,288.97 US dollars (about 1.6bn/-),
thanks to the amendments made to the mining laws, this year.
An interesting piece of information from
the Minister’s report had it that one single piece of diamond from the
consignment branded as pink diamond weighing 5.92 carats (about 1.184
grams) fetched 2 million US dollars (about 4.51bn/).
The Minister said that before the
consignment was ferried to Antwerp market in Belgium it underwent
initial evaluation process involving government officials, getting a
provisional value of 8.191million US dollars ( over 18bn/-).
Ms Kairuki said based on the provisional
valuation of the consignment the royalty has been pegged at 491,498.70
US dollars (over 1.091bn/-) while the inspection or clearance fee was
estimated at 81,916.45 US dollars (over 180 million/-), bringing the
total government revenue from the provisional valuation to 573,418.15 US
dollars(over 1.3bn/-).
She said that on October 20, 2017 the
consignment was transported to Antwerp market in Belgium, accompanied by
government officials for auctioning. She added that on Tuesday
(November 7, 2017) the consignment was auctioned, fetching 10.261
million US dollars (over 22 bn/), an increase of 2.069 million US
dollars (over 4bn/-), equivalent to 20.16 per cent.
According to the Minister, the success
recorded in handling the diamond cargo resulted from the implementation
of the new law on mining which, among other things, increased royalties
from five to seven per cent.
The new law also imposed a one per cent
inspection fee payable from the total market value of the cargo. Ms
Kairuki said the government gave permission to Williamson Diamond to
proceed with mining operations at Mwadui after seizing the previous
consignment in August.
Petra owns a 75 per cent stake in
Williamson Diamonds while Tanzanian government owns 25 per cent. The
company, having produced the second consignment it sought permission
from the government to sell it.
“We accepted their request to have the diamond sold, that is why today we are giving you these figures,” the Minister said.
The Minister made it clear that the
cargo sold at the auction in Belgium on Tuesday was different from the
consignment of diamond, weighing 71,000 carats seized at Julius Nyerere
International Airport on August 31, this year, on its way to Belgium.
“This cargo we are talking about is different from the diamond we seized in August.The valuation process of the diamond seized last August is still underway,” the Minister said.
Commissioner
of Minerals, Mr Benjamin Mchwampaka chipped in to explain why the
valuation process of the seized diamond was taking too long saying, “We
are taking too long in these verification and valuation processes
because we want every side to be satisfied with the outcomes.”
Meanwhile, the Minister spoke of the four Chinese nationals who were
arrested on October 20, 2017 for allegedly possessing gold sand, saying
they will face charges in court.
She
said after seizure of the gold sand, the experts at the Geological
Survey of Tanzania (GST) assessed it before it was established that what
the Chinese national were transporting was indeed gold sand.
She said the ministry will continue to ensure every person follows the rules and regulations governing the mining sector.
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