Mining commission targets Sh1 trillion revenue in 2024/25

Dar es Salaam. The Mining Commission is undertaking several strategic measures in efforts to collect Sh1 trillion in revenue before the end of the 2024/2025 financial year.

Collecting Sh1 trillion will be a 32.7 percent improvement from Sh753.8 billion that was collected during the 2023/24 fiscal year, available data shows.

It also means that the Mining Commission will be required to collect an average of Sh83.33 billion each month from mining activities.

The Commission’s acting Executive Secretary, Mr Ramadhani Lwamo, told journalists in Dar es Salaam recently that in order to achieve the target, they would have to expand the scope of mining areas.

Other focus areas include strengthening the monitoring of safety, health, environmental and production inspections in small, medium and large-scale mines.

The Commission would increase efforts to improve working conditions in the mines to ensure that operations are conducted effectively.

“We will enhance management and oversight in mineral production areas by closing existing loopholes, which, in one way or another, lead to mineral smuggling and loss of crucial revenue,” he said.

Mr Lwamo said that to meet the Sh1 trillion target, the commission would continue to improve the governance of the mining sector and the collection of revenue.

Going by the trend of the first quarter of the 2024/25 fiscal year, Mr Lwamo believes the target is achievable.

During that period (from July to September, 20254), a total of Sh257.89 billion was collected, representing 103.16 percent of the target for that period and 25.79 percent of the annual target for 2024/2025.

In another development the contribution of the mining sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has continued to improve, reaching nine percent in 2023 from 7.2 percent in 2021.

“Our goal is to reach a 10 percent contribution by 2025,” he said.

According to the commission, the mining sector has created 19,356 jobs, with 18,853 (97.40 percent) of those positions held by Tanzanians and 503 (2.60 percent) by foreign nationals.

“Products worth $3.78 billion were sold from the mines, with Tanzanian companies accounting for $3.46 billion (91.68 percent) of the sales, while foreign companies purchased products worth $0.3 billion (8.32 percent),” Mr Lwamo explained.

So far, a total of 58 areas have been designated for mining activities in the country, specifically for small-scale miners. “We also want to enhance revenue collection from this important group.”

The sector's growth rate increased from 9.4 percent in 2021 to 11.3 percent in 2023.

The Commission reported significant gains in mineral sales, with revenues from mineral markets and buying centres reaching Sh2.59 trillion in 2023/24, generating Sh180.13 billion in taxes and fees. This compares favourably with the Sh2.36 trillion collected in 2021/22, which generated Sh164.09 billion for the government.