LOGISTICAL ENVIRONMENT

Tanzania’s location in East Africa endows the country with important geographical advantages:

● the topography is relatively gentle and, with few exceptions, no major geographical barriers exist;

● there are few extremes of climate; few areas have excessive rainfall and also process water is available in most parts of the country;

● the country’s seaboard on the Indian Ocean places it in an advantageous position for shipping connections with rest of the world;

●the presence of the Great Lakes of Africa (Victoria, Tanganyika, Nyasa) place Tanzania in contact by deep – water inland shipping with Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique;

Blessings are shortcomings in modern transport and industrial facilities: railroads,

Roads,ports, airfields, energy, telecommunications and manufacturing capacity. The existing infrastructural facilities are shown on Fig.4. Many of the mineral districts are distant from paved highways and other infrastructure. The Central Railway, a narrow gauge line built prior to World War 1, is being modernized. The standard gauge Tanzania – Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) line, built during the 1970s has a higher capacity but suffers from a shortage of rolling stock;

● Tanzania has a substantial supply of energy for its present needs in the form of electricity from hydropower. In addition to the traditional hydroelectric power generation, the Songosongo gas field has been developed to generate electricity, which is now connected to the national grid. Other energy sources available are biogas, solar and coal; with the change in macro – economic policy, the Government has initiated a long – term programme since the 1990s to rehabilitate and sustain the infrastructure. The programme includes the following projects which are being implemented:

●An integrated roads project which includes paving of several trunk roads (Dodoma – Mwanza sector; Dar es salaam – Mtwara sector and Biharamulo – Bukoba sector); and upgrading of gravel and earth roads;

● Rehabilitation of ports at Dar es salaam, Tanga and elsewhere;

● Renovation of the Central Railway

● Improvement of telecommunications and aviation, and upgrading the TAZARA

  rail system to triple its present capacity; and

● distribution of a national power grid in which most regional most regional headquarters are served by the national grid. Significant improvements in the infrastructure of the country have been achieved.

Some services available in the country for the mining industry include:

● topographic maps and aerial photographs available and surveys in dar es salaam.

● Analytical and assay services as well mineralogical, petrological and gemological studies at Tanzania Geological Survey Laboratory in Dodoma.

● Geological and geophysical services from both the University of Dar es salaam and from the Souther and Eastern African Mineral Centre (SEAMIC);

● Drilling services from the State Mining Corporation (STAMICO) and private

  contractors;

● High quality rock mechanisms test facilities at the Southern and Eastern African Mineral Centre (SEAMIC).Headquarters in Dar es salaam.

● Analytical and assay services at Southern and Eastern African Mineral Centre’s (SEAMIC) as as SGS, Humac, and ANALABS in mwanza; and

● Geological consultancy services from individuals and institutions.