Small scale miners in Tanzania have reasons to smile

The Ministry of minerals is expected to issue mining licenses to more than 8,000 small scale miners in the country with effect from next week. The deputy minister for Minerals Dotto Biteko said today in parliament when answering a supplementary question which was raised by a legislator of Geita Rural Joseph Msukuma (CCM) who wanted to k now if the government was ready to issue mining licenses to small scale miners. Responding to the question, the deputy minister said that the plan by the government is there as even the President Dr. John Magufuli had ordered the issuances of such licenses to small scale miners. Biteko said that to acknowledge their presence, the government would start issuing the said licenses to 8,000 miners who had sent their application and after which will be allocated to specialized areas to conduct their businesses. In the meantime, the deputy minister has said that about 281,000 hectares of land has been set aside up to now for that porpoise only to be occupied by small scale miners in the country. He was responding to the basic question eelier raised by a special seat legislator Upendo Peneza (Chadema) who wanted to know when will the small scale miners be allocated with specialized areas to conduct their mining activities. The deputy minister Bittelo said that since 1996, the government had been setting aside specialized areas for small scale miners and that about 280,000 hectares of land has been put aside. He also noted that, more land will be acquired more according to their number as they increase and that his ministry will work in collaboration with an agent on geology and State Mining Corporation (STAMICO) will work in search of other places to help small scale miners.