By Damas Makangale
Barrick Mining Corporation has integrated Tanzania into its core development goals and agenda, ensuring that mineral wealth benefits ordinary citizens and serves as a cornerstone for social wellbeing and economic growth.
While public outcry long persisted over multinational companies extracting mineral reserves from southern, western, and northern Tanzania without benefiting local people, such concerns have become obsolete.
Tanzania has made significant strides in the mining sector, recording impressive revenue collection across royalties, taxes, and other levies.
The introduction of new regulations, including Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Local Content (LC) guidelines, has enabled Tanzanians to participate fully in the sector’s trade and business opportunities.
Every year, the Mining Commission organises a forum dedicated to Tanzanian participation in the mining sector. This forum examines emerging opportunities and opens doors for citizens to engage more actively in the mining sector. Its primary objective is to increase Tanzanian participation in service provision, employment, and ownership.
Additionally, the forum addresses ways to expand the value chain, address challenges faced by local companies in service delivery, broaden mutual cooperation, overcome capital and technology barriers, attract investment, and promote overall growth in the mining sector.
One of the mining companies making significant progress in this area is Barrick Mining Corporation, which operates jointly with the government through Twiga Minerals at the Bulyanhulu, North Mara, and Buzwagi mines. Notably, Buzwagi is currently in its final closure stages and is transitioning into a Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
Barrick has turned local content regulations into practice by ensuring that its senior management, from the resident manager and mine managers to other leadership tiers—are Tanzanians. The company has also prioritised the placement of women in engineering and geology positions across its mines.
Since partnering with the government through Twiga Minerals in 2019, Barrick has consistently increased its procurement of goods from local suppliers, reaching 83 per cent.
In 2024, the company demonstrated its commitment to local participation by making purchases worth Sh1.5 trillion, of which Sh1.2 trillion (75 per cent) went directly to Tanzanian companies under local content regulations.
Since taking over operational management in 2019, Barrick has invested USD 4.79 billion into Tanzania’s economy, including USD 558 million in the first half of 2025 alone. More than 90 per cent of its procurement continues to be routed through Tanzanian suppliers, many of them locally owned, while 96 per cent of the total workforce consists of Tanzanians, with 49 per cent drawn from communities surrounding the mines.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the Fifth Forum on the Implementation of Tanzanian Participation in the Mining Sector, Barrick North Mara Head of Supply Chain Enock Otieno highlighted the abundance of opportunities at Barrick’s mines.
He urged Tanzanians to utilise these opportunities, while ensuring they meet the required standards for goods and services.
Mr Otieno added that it was vital for local providers to quickly adapt to advances in mining technology to remain acceptable to industry investors.
“At Barrick, we have moved from consultations to the practical implementation of local content,” Mr Otieno emphasised. “It is important for Tanzanians to be ready to participate actively in the mining economy.”
He identified three major areas where local service providers often fall short: the cost of servicing projects, the quality of goods and services, and the adoption of modern technology.
He explained that while the government, through the Ministry of Minerals, established local content laws to empower citizens, Tanzanians must stay abreast of technological shifts to expand the value chain. Local suppliers need to develop innovative approaches to remain competitive and increase their visibility within the domestic mining sector.
Mr Otieno emphasised that, among other things, Tanzanians must pay attention to the quality of goods and services they provide to mining companies operating in the country.
In his opening speech at the forum held in Mwanza, Minister for Minerals Anthony Mavunde stated that the mining sector continues growing rapidly, making a significant contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), taxes, and non-tax revenues, thereby improving the lives of Tanzanians.
“By the end of June this year, the mining sector had contributed Sh1.4 trillion to the government’s Consolidated Fund through non-tax revenue. These are major achievements that we, as a nation, have made within a short period under the Sixth Phase Government led by Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan,” Mr Mavunde said.
He added that the government had witnessed a steady rise in Tanzanian participation and goods supply since key improvements were made to the Mining Act, policy, and regulations in 2009, aligning with the National Development Vision 2050.
Mr Mavunde further noted that the procurement of goods and services across the entire mining sector had reached Sh5.1 trillion per year, demonstrating the massive scale of opportunities available to local manufacturers and service providers.
The sector has also created 20,421 formal jobs, of which 16,695 are held by Tanzanians, while its overall contribution to the national GDP has risen to 10.1 per cent.
“So far, we have seen senior executives and mine managers becoming Tanzanians. If you go to Barrick North Mara, you will find Apolinary Lyambiko. These are achievements that are vastly different from the past, when many leadership positions in mines were held by foreign nationals,” Mr Mavunde said.
He also cited other major structural achievements, including the establishment of 44 mineral markets and 117 mineral buying centres, a development that has contributed to a monumental increase in government revenue from the sector, surging from Sh161 billion in the 2015/16 fiscal year to Sh1.393 trillion in 2025/26.
The Minister emphasised that increased investment in the mining sector, coupled with the anticipation of new mines, was expected to unlock even more opportunities for citizens.
He, therefore, urged service providers to invest heavily in local production, improve the quality of their goods and services, and build strong market competitiveness. He also noted that 13 new mines were expected to open in the near future.
“It is important for us to unite in the manufacturing and supply of goods and services to the mining sector. I wish to see Tanzania become a hub for the supply of services and goods across sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.
Mr Mavunde added that the effective implementation of the Mining Act and its accompanying regulations would further boost Tanzanian participation in local production and service provision, ensuring that the sector’s growth directly benefits citizens and local businesses.
“The government expects 90 per cent of the goods and services used in mines to be produced and provided by Tanzanians. This requires strict enforcement of the law, as well as Tanzanians proactively preparing themselves to utilise the opportunities available in the mining sector,” he explained.
For his part, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Minerals, Eng Yahya Samamba, said the government had continued creating a favourable investment environment in the mining sector as part of the progressive implementation of the National Development Vision 2050.
Eng Samamba urged mining service providers to deliver high-quality solutions anchored in professionalism, integrity, and international standards. He emphasised that the ministry would continue implementing government directives and working closely with stakeholders to safeguard the broader national interest and the welfare of all Tanzanians.
Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the Mining Commission, Dr Janet Lekashingo, highlighted the mining sector as a powerful catalyst for industrial growth and value-chain expansion, which concurrently generates sustainable employment opportunities for Tanzanians. She added that strict adherence to laws, regulations, policies, and guidelines remained central to accelerating industrial development by boosting employment, income, and national economic growth.
Concluding the session, Mr Venance Kasiki, Director of Inspection and Business at the Mining Commission, noted in his presentation that recent amendments to local content regulations were successfully unlocking greater opportunities for Tanzanians to benefit directly from the country’s vast mineral wealth.