Why small scale miners should be assisted

The local mining industry is now dominated by large scale transnational mining companies especially in gold and diamond mining.

One operates gold mining companies in Nzega and another in Geita, while diamond mining at Mwadui is also owned by foreign transnational company.

Foreign investors have also been involved in mining of gemstones and the largest operator here is Tanzanite.

Tanzania is 80 per cent covered by metamorphic rocks and hence there is a big potential for mining gemstones in Arusha, Manyara, Tanga, Morogoro, Ruvuma and Rukwa regions.

The range of gemstones that are mined and exported are Tanzanite, rubies, sapphire, roadlite, alexandente, green garnet and many others.

Small scale miners in Mererani, Kilombero and Tunduru have been using outdated and poor technology and the result has been health hazards which has led to the collapse of mines and loss of lives and as many have suffocated due to loss of oxygen in the pits.

The technology used also leads to low mineral recovery rates and waste of much effort by the small scale miners.

The small scale miners have been exploited by mineral buyers and dealers because they have no knowledge to determine the value of the minerals they are selling and in some cases they can not identify the type of minerals, grades or values.

Small scale miners lack access to capital and better technology to operate the mines at optimal levels to gain from economics of scale and lower costs of production.

Small scale miners were originally located in areas where large scale miners now operate and most of them were displaced without compensation because some of them had mining licences.

Large scale mines have not contributed much to economic growth and poverty reduction as many are made to believe .

The mining sector is said to grow at 17 per cent but the contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stands at 3.5 per cent.

Large scale mining companies have also not contributed much to poverty reduction because most of them are largely capital intensive.

They need to know about mineral identification, grading and valuation as well as world market prices of minerals to avoid exploitation by mineral dealers who are better organized like the Tanzania Mineral Dealers Association (TAMIDA) which has connection with international markets of Gemstones.

There is a need to resume the Annual Gemstone shows which were being held in Arusha in order to bring small scale miners into contact with international buyers in order to learn more about markets and trend in market prices of various types of minerals.

Theo Mushi is a writer on economic issues