1        Tanzania Overview:

a.       General Information:

                                       i.      The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.

                                     ii.      As of 2006, the estimated population is 38,329,000, with an estimated growth rate of 2 percent.

                                   iii.      At 947,300 km², Tanzania is the world's 31st-largest country.

                                   iv.      The United Republic of Tanzania is a state composed of 26 regions (mikoa), including those of the autonomous region of Zanzibar. The head of state is President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, elected in 2005. Since 1996, the official capital of Tanzania has been Dodoma, where Parliament and some government offices are located. Between independence and 1996, the main coastal city of Dar es Salaam served as the country's political capital. Today, Dar es Salaam remains the principal commercial city of Tanzania and the de facto seat of most government institutions. It is the major seaport for the country and its landlocked neighbors.

                                     v.      The President of Tanzania and the members of the National Assembly are elected concurrently by direct popular vote for five-year terms. The president appoints a prime minister who serves as the government's leader in the National Assembly. The president selects his Cabinet from among the National Assembly members. The Constitution also empowers him to nominate ten non-elected members of Parliament, who are also eligible to become cabinet members. Elections for president and all National Assembly seats were held in 2010. Tanzania is a one party dominant state with the Chama Cha Mapinduzi in power. Opposition parties are widely considered to have no real chance of gaining power, though the country remains peaceful.

b.      Economy:

                                       i.      The economy is mostly based on agriculture, which accounts for more than half of the GDP, provides 75 percent (approximately) of exports, and employs approximately 75 percent of the workforce. Topography and climate, though, limit cultivated crops to only 4 percent of the land area.

                                     ii.      The nation has many natural resources including minerals, natural gas, and tourism. Extraction of natural gas began in the 2000s. Gas is drawn into the commercial capital, Dar Es Salaam and exported to various markets overseas. The mineral sector started to pick-up slowly in the late 90s, major discoveries are announced regularly. However, the mineral sect 1or has yet to start contributing significantly to the overall Tanzanian economy. On the other hand, the contribution of the tourism sector to the Tanzanian economy is steadily rising year after year.

c.       Gold Opportunities:

                                       i.      Gold has shared the spotlight with Diamonds as Tanzania's principal mineral product since early 1900s.

                                     ii.      The rate of Gold production has varied considerably and at times has been entirely from individual prospectors or artisanal miners working with hand tools, in the fashion of the "garimpeiros" of Brazil or many other tropical countries.

                                   iii.      During the mid 20^th century, Tanzania experienced a notable yield of Gold from mechanized mines until 1966 when the last mine at Geita was closed down. Since then and until the late 1990s, Gold production was mainly from artisanal miners and production records were uncertain and subject to great variations.

                                   iv.      Economic reforms made in the late 1990s have given impetus to Gold output, where new modern mechanized mining has started with the inauguration of Golden Pride Mine in 1998. Other new mines came on stream.

                                     v.      Tanzania is currently the 3rd largest Gold exporter in Africa.

                                   vi.      Major Gold mining companies such as AngloGold and Barrick are already operating in Tanzania for many years.

                                 vii.      Major mining companies engage only in massive reserve mega mines while the small and medium scale mining operations remain an untapped resource.

                               viii.      Recent changes in Tanzanian law, limiting the number of licenses each company can hold in order to allow more mining and exploration companies to obtain good mining plots have caused many interesting and potentially high reserve areas that have not been developed or invested in to be "back on the market".