All set for tapping critical minerals potentials
TANZANIA is determined to reap potentials from its critical mineral deposits as it rejoices great achievements in the mining sector, including rising local participation to over 90 per cent.
Clean energy technologies, such as Solar Photovoltaic (PV) plants, Wind Farms, Nuclear Power and Electric Vehicles (EVs), will play an important role in the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
These renewable technologies require specific minerals known as ‘Critical Minerals’ or green minerals such as graphite, copper, nickel, lithium and cobalt.
Tanzania Mining Commission (TMC) Executive Secretary, Eng Yahya Samamba, explained that as the world exits from use of fossil fuels towards clean energy, the government is prepared to reap the potentials of the green minerals it has been blessed with.
“We have a number of strategies to ensure the nation benefits from critical or green mineral deposits in the regions of Lindi, Kagera and Morogoro,” he said.
Adding: “With the transition to clean energy technologies, critical minerals such as graphite, copper, nickel, lithium and cobalt are in high demand, therefore we are putting our house in order to invest in those areas.”
He said the commission has so far issued 828 mining licences for green minerals as the government eyes huge production to meet market needs.
“We have designed a special programme to see how best the government and the public can benefit from the green minerals. The demand for critical minerals is expected to rise in the foreseeable future, their supply might be limited,” Eng Samamba said.
According to a Critical Minerals scoping study by the Natural Resources Governance Institute in 2021, Tanzania has significant deposits of minerals which are considered to be critical to the clean energy transition.
For example, nickel deposits have been discovered in Kagera region, estimated at over 1.52 million tonnes.
Over 18 million tonnes of graphite reserves were discovered in Lindi, Morogoro and Tanga regions, hence Tanzania is said to be the 5th largest reserve of graphite in the world.
About 138 billion cubic feet of helium is present at Lake Rukwa Basin – said to be the second largest helium deposit in the world.
Furthermore, there are about 20 other deposits of critical mineral deposits in Tanzania, such as copper, lithium and many others.
The government has entered into several new agreements with six mining licences granted for dealing in critical minerals such as copper, nickel, graphite and rare earth elements.
For instance, he said, copper and aluminum are cornerstone minerals for all electricity-related technologies, since electrical equipment such as motors, transformers and cables use copper to conduct electricity and heat.
Moreover, he added, copper, nickel, lithium and cobalt are key elements for batteries used in many of the new technologies.
An electric vehicle, for instance, typically contains lithium-ion batteries, which requires lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt-bearing minerals.
The green minerals are also used for the production of solar panels and wind turbines, telecommunication devices such as phones and laptops which require a wealth of minerals, including tantalite, wolframite, graphite and bauxite.
Eng Samamba further explained that the country has achieved boosting the local content in the sector, whereby in the extractive industry it went up to 97 per cent from 70 per cent in 2018 and 92 per cent of goods and services procured in the sector are local, which increased from 50 per cent in 2018.
He further said the sector also contributed to the country a total of 28.8bn/- through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) between 2019 and 2021.
The revenue also increased from 346.2bn/- in 2018/19 to 624.6bn/- in 2021/22 financial year, the contribution of the mining sector to the GDP also rose to 7.3 per cent in 2021 from 4.8 in 2018 when the commission was formed.
On empowering the small scale miners as stated in the CCM’s election manifesto, he said, they allocated 141-acres which have been geologically surveyed to the group to effectively participate in the mining economy.
The efforts have paid off since the revenue collected from the small scale miners increased to 30 per cent in 2021 compared to 24 per cent in 2018.
