MORE than 4,000 licenses are in the process of being issued in four areas of the Mbogwe Mining Region in Geita Region, with locals and foreign investors urged to take advantage of the opportunities available in the region.
Speaking in an interview, Mbogwe Resident Mining Officer, Engineer Jeremiah Hango said the areas allocated are Nyamikonze where 81 licenses were allocated to small-scale miners, there is the Mwamakiliga area where 27 licenses were allocated.
“Other areas are Bukombe village with 140 licenses and currently the Kigosi process where approximately 4,000 licenses have been allocated”, said Engineer Hango
He said, the allocation exercise is still ongoing and that if the existing opportunities are used well, the government will be able to collect a large amount of revenue.
“I remind license holders who hold licenses in our Mbogwe mining region to work on those licenses, many of them are not working on them, there are research licenses where if you go to the site, the people who do research are very few”, said Engineer Hango
“I also remind you that if they do not work on those licenses, we will cancel them and give them to other people who are interested in working on the licenses and not holding them”, he said
He said the collection of Government revenue through the mining sector in the Mbogwe Mining Region arising from royalties, fees and various fees has been increasing every year since the mining region was established in 2021.
“In 2021/2022 we were able to collect 21 billion shillings, in 2022/2023 we collected 22 billion shillings, in the last financial year 2023/2024 we collected 27 billion shillings, this financial year so far we have been able to collect 22 billion shillings”, said Engineer Hango
He continued to say that 90 percent of the minerals mined in Mbogwe are gold, there are also construction minerals.
“We get 60 percent of Mbogwe’s income in Nyang’wale district, where mining is largely carried out, but there are efforts being made by the Government to ensure the empowerment of miners to use the existing opportunities.
“We have many opportunities in our Mbogwe mineral region, there is an opportunity for the mining business, we have two markets in Nyang’wale and Masumbwe, big mining dealers who have the ability to buy this gold should come and apply for a license”, he said.
He said there is an opportunity for the construction of mineral processing plants, which are currently few because miners have been motivated to abandon the use of mercury and go to the use of CIP processing plants.
