May 14, 2018 upendo
TORONTO – Executives at Barrick Gold and Glencore expect to receive a new licence for their joint venture Kabanga nickel project in Tanzania, having held “productive” talks with the government
Under changes to
Tanzania’s mining license structure put into place in January, Barrick and Glencore have applied for a prospecting license to replace the retention license they previously held on the undeveloped
project. The retention licence was due to expire in 2019, and the new license would be good for four years, Barrick spokesperson
Andy Lloyd
“
Glencore
and Barrick expect to receive a Prospecting License and look forward to
continuing the constructive relationship that exists with both the
Government of Tanzania, and the communities in the area of the project,” Lloyd said.
Reuters reported earlier that Tanzania revoked a retention licence for the Kabanga nickel asset, as well as ten other retention licences for nickel, gold, silver, copper and rare-earth exploration companiest
Retention licenses act as placeholders for
mining companies that want to hold the rights to a deposit, even if they are not planning to immediately develop it.Under President
John Magufuli,
Tanzania has been overhauling its
mining regulations in an effort to reap greater economic benefits. Barrick’s majority-owned
Acacia Mining
has been hit hard by the changes – which included a $190-billion tax
bill – and has said it would consider selling a stake in some, or all,
of its
gold mines in
Tanzania. Last month, Acacia said first quarter
gold production fell 55%.
Other African nations are also seeking to redraw historic mining agreements. Last week, Toronto’s Kinross Gold became the latest miner to be hit by the possibility of regulatory changes in Ghana and Mauritania. Earlier this year, Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals was slapped with a $7.9-billion tax assessment by Zambia. Glencore has been dealing with a dispute over a new mining code in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
during the past several months, Barrick said Sunday
0 Comments:
Post a Comment