Stamico, Azania ink deal to support artesanal miners

Dar es Salaam. The State Mining Corporation (Stamico) and Azania Bank have signed an agreement to collaborate in the issuing of loans to small-scale miners.

The two sides agreed to collaborate yesterday in Dar es Salaam to help artisanal and small-scale miners gain access to credit facilities and financing choices provided by Azania.

The agreement, witnessed by Minerals Minister Dr Dotto Biteko, was signed yesterday at the opening of a two-day meeting for artisanal and small-scale miners of industrial minerals and owners of mineral-product industries.

The Stamico managing director, Dr Venance Mwasse and a senior manager at Azania Bank, Mr Jackson Lohay, signed the documents in Dar es Salaam yesterday on behalf of the two institutions. Information made available to The Citizen noted yesterday that the two institutions will also jointly conduct awareness-raising and capacity-building activities in the mining and mineral processing subsector. They will also share and exchange knowledge and information on matters related to mining, mineral processing and project financing.

“They will also jointly develop standard guidelines, benchmarks or standard operating procedures that will guide Azania Bank in assessing an application for credit facilities from licenced small-scale miners,” the statement reads.

Stamico will provide technical consulting services to Azania on the mineral potential and technical aspects of the artisanal and small-scale mining projects before the lender grants credit facilities.

The partnership is also geared towards supporting artisanal and small-scale miners to carry out independent geoscientific studies of their mineral assets to be used as collateral when applying for credit facilities.

Stamico and Azania Bank will carry out pilot financing studies on selected small-scale miners’ projects.