By Sylivester Ernest
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. A Parliamentary committee yesterday ordered the Ministry of Energy and Minerals to furnish it with contracts it signed with two companies to explore uranium in the country.

According to the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy and Minerals, Mr January Makamba, the aim was to make sure that the contracts entered between the government and Mantra Resources Ltd (Mantra) of South Africa and Uranex would benefit the country’s economy and environment.

He told reporters after the committee met with officials of the ministry that uranium exploration was a very delicate issue worldwide and his committee wanted to ensure the mineral did not turn out to be a curse for the country.

“We want to make sure that the environment and the country’s security are looked at…uranium is among the most sought after minerals, and we must take precautions,” the Bumbuli MP said.

Records show that the government agreed with Mantra, under the company’s flagship Mkuju River Project, to explore the existence of uranium in southern Tanzania.The firm has confirmed the presence of multiple thick zones of sandstone-hosted uranium mineralisation at shallow wells in the Nyota Prospect.An inferred mineral resource of 35.9 million pounds (U3O8) is estimated for the prospect.

This initial resource estimate is based on drilling that covers only a small part of the total area of prospecting, and a potential exists to substantially grow the resource base with ongoing work. On the other hand, Uranex is working at Bahi area for Dodoma and Manyoni projects with an estimated 6.7 million pounds.Tanzania is believed to have about 53.9 million pounds of uranium oxide deposits.

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