ippmedia.com/en/news/tanzaniagears-benefit-graphite-mineral-boom
April 23, 2018
23Apr 2018
The Guardian Reporter
News
The Guardian
Tanzania gears up to benefit from graphite mineral boom
A 500-TONNE graphite sample from Ulanga district in Morogoro region has been shipped off to Canada for further laboratory tests before the commencement of grand exploration operations for the mineral in the area.
- Officials say the earmarked area in Morogoro region has estimated deposits of about 69.9 million tonnes, which could bring in over 200bn/- in royalties
Officials say the area has an estimated graphite deposit of about 69.9 million tonnes, which could bring in over 200 billion/- in royalties to the government annually.
It is also understood that the Australian-based Black Rock mining company has pledged to build a giant graphite mining plant in Ulanga district under the Mahenge Graphite Project.
According to Eastern Zone mineral officer Theresia Ntuke, the Australian firm funded transport for the 500-tonne bulk sample from Ifakara in Ulanga district to the port of Dar es Salaam over the weekend, ready for onward shipping to SGS’s Lakefield Lab in Canada for a second pilot test in August and September this year.
Ntuke said once full mining operations begin in the area, Black Rock will be looking to produce an average of 80,000 tonnes of graphite per year, enabling Tanzania to get $100 million per annum in royalties and different taxes.
The project will employ at least 150 Tanzanians once the plant becomes fully operational, and many more will be employed “indirectly in the value chain,” she added.
She also said the project is expected to become a key to the social-economic development of communities living in Ulanga and neighbouring Kilombero district.
The Mahenge project is estimated as the fourth largest contained graphite resource in the world.
According to Black Rock chief executive officer John de Vries, the large flake size and high purity of Mahenge graphite tested todate suggests that it can be applied to the premium battery market as well as traditional applications.
The non-metallic mineral is considered a high-demand item due to technological advancements in the world, its other applications ranging from the manufacturing of pencils to automobiles, mobile phones to electric cars.
De Vries said the initial testing produced a premium-sized product of 97.5 percent carbon from a three-stage flotation cleaning circuit, with a small amount of polishing.
He said SGS processed a 90-tonne sample from Mahenge and produced 10 tonnes of concentrate that Black Rock is distributing to potential global customers and partners.
SGS will use the sample in transit for a second pilot to optimize operating parameters of Black Rock’s proposed processing method for Mahenge and continue its product qualification for potential off-take partners, he added.
Black Rock has also submitted a draft Environmental and Social Impact Statement for Mahenge and commenced development of a resettlement policy framework for residents around the project area.
The global graphite market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa.
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Tanzania needs to set up a sovereign fund just like the Norwegians.
Farouk al Kasim: the man behind Norway's oil wealth | CBC RadioLike Canada and the United States, Norway has a very lucrative oil and gas industry. But unlike those two countries, Norway did not use its resource wealth to pay for hefty tax cuts or social programs. Instead, the Scandinavian country squirrelled its money away in a sovereign wealth fund for future generations. And today -- less than 25 years since its inception -- that nest egg has grown into the world's most valuable sovereign wealth fund, worth almost $850 billion.
It is the envy of the world.
Meanwhile, the Alberta Heritage Fund, which is 14 years older, is worth about $17 billion; the Alaska Permanent Fund sits at $50 billion; neither of them chump change, but a tiny fraction of the wealth Norway has amassed.
And perhaps most remarkable of all, much of the credit for Norway's phenomenal success with its oil fund, belongs to a geologist from Iraq, although he is loathe to take too much of the credit.
It was 1968, and Farouk al Kasim was struggling with an important decision that would change his life, and that of his young family. What he didn't know at the time was that it would have such a profound impact on Norway's future as well.
Farouk al-Kasim spoke to Michael Enright from a radio studio in Stavanger, Norway.