Kabanga Nickel pays 2.4bn/- tax to govt

Kabanga Nickel pays 2.4bn/- royalty to govt

KABANGA Nickel Limited has paid a total of 2.4bn/-   tax to the government between January and August.

Kabanga Nickel Country Manager, Mr Benedict Busunzu disclosed this while briefing Minerals Minister, Dotto Biteko, who made an impromptu visit to the project site on Friday to see development of the project.

He was accompanied by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr Adolf Ndunguru.

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“We are happy to announce that Kabanga Nickel has managed to pay tax to the government amounting 2.4bn/- between January and August, this year.

The company has also set aside at least 208m/- for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),” Mr Busunzu said.

He elaborated that out of the 4,100 hectares earmarked for the project to-date, about 2,800 hectares had already been surveyed (approx 70 per cent) while the resettlement works were still in progress.

Minister Biteko hailed Kabanga Nickel for the good performance in implementing the project while also urging them to speed up the process because Tanzanians were eagerly waiting to see the project being implemented.

“President Samia Suluhu Hassan and all Tanzanians are eagerly waiting to see the long-awaited project being implemented. I appeal to Kabanga Nickel to speed up to enable the project to start functioning,” he said.

Mr Biteko also directed Mr Busunzu to ensure that people who will be affected by the resettlement programme under the 2,800 hectares already surveyed are paid their compensation.

“People under the 2,800 hectares already surveyed should be paid their compensation because the money is available. About 30bn/- had been set aside for the exercise.  Don’t wait for a long time because this can cause undue inconvenience to the affected families,” he said.

He strongly warned few greedy people locally termed as “Tegesha”, who buy land from wananchi in villages surrounding the project site at a cheap price and later claim millions of shillings as compensation.

“The government is closely monitoring the project. These crooks (Tegesha) will not get any payment. The government is working closely with investors and will not allow few unfaithful people to tarnish its image,”   he warned.

The signing of the long awaited Kabanga Nickel mining agreement between Kabanga Nickel Limited, formerly LZ Nickel Limited and the Tanzanian government on January 19, 2021, was witnessed by the late President John Magufuli, who assured investors that Tanzania is politically stable and invited them to exploit the abundant resources available in the country. The operating company formed in this special agreement was Tembo Nickel Corporation Limited (Tembo)

Kabanga Nickel Limited is a United Kingdom (UK) mining company with investment capital in Tanzania amounting to 1.3 billion US dollars (950 million US dollars on the mine and 350 million US dollars on the refinery) which when operations are in full swing will offer employment to 900people on the mine site and 300 at the refinery.

Kabanga Nickel Limited will also construct a nickel refinery in Kahama District, Shinyanga Region. This will use Hydromet technology which is much more environmentally friendly than smelting, cutting back on carbon emissions and eliminating Sulphur emissions completely. Refined nickel metal will be produced at the refinery, meaning there will be full beneficiation in the country for the first time.

Nickel is a key electric car battery material, and Kabanga in Tanzania’s northwest is the world’s largest development-ready, high-grade nickel sulfide deposit, according to Kabanga Nickel. It is estimated to contain more than 1.52 million tonnes of nickel, including Class I nickel and cobalt products, and LME Grade A copper cathode. The mine is estimated to contain more than 100,000 tonnes of cobalt- also used in batteries.

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