Teamwork behind Laizer’s Sh7.7bn tanzanite find

Dar es Salaam. When news broke that a small scale miner, Saniniu Laizer, 52, had managed to pull out two largest tanzanite gemstones ever recorded in history, it appeared as though he was a lone man in the Tanzanite find. However, according to his manager, the success came with huge teamwork.

Before, the biggest previous tanzanite find was 3.38kg stone which was dug by a commercial mining company 15 years ago. But Mr Laizer and his team, has been able to find two dark violet-blue gemstones, each about 30cm long and 10cm thick, one weighing 9.27kg and the second 5.103kg.

Both stones were found last week, but the discovery only became known when Laizer sold them to the government on Wednesday.

Team behind work

With a production team, comprising of over 200 laborers, logistics experts, mining engineers and certified geologists, Mr Laizer’s entrance in the Tanzanian billionaire club comes as a journey that began 20 years ago.

He is a farmer and cattle keeper who owns 2,000 herd of cattle and that helped him sustain the mining activities, says his manager Mr Kiria Laizer, recalling the day when the gemstones were found.

“On that day when the stones were obtained from the mine, he says, “We were not at the mining site. I and Mr Laizer were in Arusha. It’s the production team that actually was in the mine.”

“Usually, when an explosive is released in the mine, it hits a huge rock and there are indications that are described by our geologist to show that there is an associated mineral. In this case, it was tanzanite,” he tells The Citizen, highlighting the efforts of the young men on the team, and the experts who the tanzanite miner has recruited on the job.

“So, that day, we were informed that the production team has pulled out the stones which initially were not confirmed to be tanzanite,. So, they were later washed and taken to the Fire One Stop center in Mirerani where there are experts and government officials who verify the minerals. Then we (I and Mr Laizer) were informed about it and we went later to see for ourselves,’’ he says.

Commits 10 percent to workers

“I work as his manager for the mining Block D site. I am one of the 215 staff that work for Laizer and we feel grateful that our boss who is the licensed owner of the mining block has finally got these stones. We have helped him earn about Sh 7.7 billion from the tanzanite stones. He committed that he would give 10 per cent of what he has earned to staff who have contributed to his success. We are happy that this has finally come.”

The struggles

“It was really a challenging experience. For years the biggest challenge has been on how to get explosives that help in breaking up the rocks to get the minerals we want...it can cost up to Sh200,000 per day to buy the right explosives.”

“While this may sound little money for a well-established company, for a small scale miner this is too expensive because you don’t get returns each time you incur the costs at that time....You have to rely on other sources of finance to get money to carry out with the mining and that’s challenging. For us, we had to rely on finances we get from cattle keeping.”