Tanzania government to earn more revenues on uranium minerals deposits

AN estimated amount of 119 millions of British pounds which is equivalent to Ts. 297.5 billions worth of uranium mineral is expected to be extracted within 100 square km of the uranium mineral deposits which has so far been explored at Mkunju River project at Namtumbo district in Ruvuma region. Business Times has been informed. This is part of the total 3250 square km area already explored in the district within 10 years’ time by the Mantra Tanzania Ltd Company which has been given the exploration license by the government since 2005. Namtumbo District Commissioner Saveli Maketa said in an exclusive interview with Business Times during the workshop on development of uranium industry in Tanzania last week in Dar es Salaam that the exploration activities is still going on in his district. A feasibility study which was completed early this year shows that the Mkunju River project alone could produce 1900 tonnes of uranium per annum, thus placing Tanzania in the third position as the biggest producer in Africa after Namibia and Niger. “Just imagine how this small portion under the estimation if well mined, would give the government such a big sum of money as revenue” he said in a horrific wonder while insisting that he has assured safety of the people once mining activities starts. He said with the exploration work which is currently going on in his district, he is well prepared to create jobs both directly and indirectly to most youths within the district. He has however agreed with the Mantra company that unskilled labourers should be sourced within Ruvuma region.

Former Attorney General of the United Republic of Tanzania, retired Judge Mark Bomani is being interviewed by members of press during a one day workshop on the development of Uranium exploration in Tanzania which was organized by Institute of Engineers of Tanzania at Kilimanjaro Kempiski. On his views, Judge Bomani who was the guest of honour has advised the government not to rush quickly with the mining of Uranium in the country until it puts in place safety measures which would enable to control any hazards that might occur on the course of mining.
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The implementation of the project will place Tanzania in the top 10 uranium producing countries in the world. It will be the first major, mining development within south eastern Tanzania bringing jobs and prosperity to the currently underdeveloped region. Currently there are many uranium exploration activities in Tanzania which include those in Namtumbo, Manyoni, Bahi and Selous game reserve. Despite of the revenues expected to be collected in abundance, critics from the mining industry have cautioned the government not to rush with the project unless it put in place the necessary basic requirements on safety measures in order to protect its people. Judge Mark Bomani said in an interview that, precautionary measures are necessary rather than rushing to think of carrying out mining before weighing the benefits and dangers that the country might encounter in future. However, he has warned that the government leaders should look at the way especially on its sensitivity and the huge capital investment involved in its extraction, adding that, the government should not only think of the benefits accruing but also the dangers resulting from it before putting it into full running operation. An academician at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) Dr. Yahya Kishashu put across his views during the workshop and noted that, Tanzania does not hive enough resources to control any hazards that might occur out of uranium mining.

An official from the Institute of Engineers of Tanzania, whose name was not yet immediately established, prepares himself for an interview with the ITV television during the workshop.

He says the Ministry of Health must have enough capacity to monitor uncontrolled mining activities that normally cause health hazards and in view of this, the government must pull up its socks on capacity development and monitoring of environmental health standards. He noted that, if Europeans now have been opposing them due to rising health risks citing the examples of India, Japan and Russia where uranium development at some point caused huge disasters. Can Tanzania manage? He queried. However, the National Environmental Management Council (NEMC) is still faced with a lot of challenges of low capacity in implementing its objectives. According to an official of the organization, Aziz Abu, the weak capacity of NEMC has stemmed from limited skilled human resources, lack of infrastructure as well as resource constraints.

Namtumbo District Commissioners Mr. Saveli Maketa seated right in white shirt, responds questions from journalists in a press conference during the seminar to deliberate the development of Uranium exploration in the country. The DC was invited as his district has a rich uranium mineral deposits.

The government had decided to allow uranium exploration in the country after it was satisfied that there are more benefits and the extraction could be done without harming people and the environment. But according to experts, raw uranium is not harmful to people’s health until it is enriched, a process that cannot be done here in Tanzania. In view of this, people should be educated to erase fear which has been propagated by some individuals with little knowledge of uranium. The last week’s workshop on uranium industry development was organized by Institution of Engineers Tanzania (IET) mining ad metallurgy division and which brought together uranium experts from Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa, Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission, Ministry of Energy and Minerals, National Environmental Council, Mantra (T) Ltd and URANEX.