Introduction.
Gold
has shared the spotlight with diamonds as Tanzania principal mineral product since the early 1900s. The rate of
gold production has varied considerably (Fig .13), and at times has been
entirely from individual prospectors or artisanal miners working with hand
tools, in the fashion of the garimpeiof Brazil and many other
tropical countries. During the mid 20th
Century, Tanzania experienced a notable yield of gold from mechanized
mines until 1966 when the last mine at Geita was closed down. Since then,
gold production was mainly from artisinal miners and production records
were uncertain and subject to great variations. Recent economic reforms
have given impetus to gold output, where new modern mechanized mining has
started with the inauguration of Golden Pride Mine in 1998 at Lusu in
Nzega. Other new mines came on stream as follows:
Bulyanhulu Mine in 2000, Geita Gold Mine in 2001, North Mara Gold Mine in
2002 and Buhemba in 2003. Tulawaka Gold Mine started production in March
2005. STAMICO Buck Reef Mine in the Rwamagaza greenstone belt closed in
1991 due to logical problems. However, East African Mines has a join
venture with STAMICO to rehabilitate the mine.
All
the opportunities involve varying degrees of technical and economic risk.
The opportunities most highly rated are in the Table 3. Previous gold
producers still considered to have merit are listed on the table below.
Due to the increasing interest in gold properties,
