By Lake Zone Watch Writer
Minister for Minerals, Anthony Mavunde, has directed the Mining Commission Executive Secretary to cancel 2,648 applications and prospecting mining licenses to give the opportunity to other serious investors in the mining industry for the good of the nation.
The state-run Mining Commission is a body corporate and is vested with functions that include supervising and regulating the sector, issuing , cancelling and renewing mineral rights and resolving disputes arising out of mining operations or activities.
Minister Mavunde said that some holders of mining licences did not adhere to their responsibilities as required by the Mining Act which provides for indigenous rights to the holders of primary mining licences and gemstone mining licences.
Under the Mining Act, licence holders are required to keep certain records and provide quarterly reports to the Commission.
Thus, licence holders conducting exploration activities are required to provide reports on boreholes drilled, aerial photographs, details of logs of strata penetrated, minerals discovered, results of seismic surveys, geochemical and geophysical analysis and many other issues, just to mention few.
The minister said some of the major mistakes observed for quite long among holders of mining licences is the tendency not develop their areas, ignoring payment of dues for mining licences, non-presentation of the Local Content Plan and Social Responsibility Plan and non-presentation of financial statement regarding expenditure.
“For example, there are six people owning an area of 13 million hectares, four times the size of Kilimanjaro region. But these places have remained dormant when we have small-scale miners who wish they could be allowed to utilise them,” the minister revealed.
The Mining Commission says that as of February this year, 2,180 applications for mining licences have not been paid for.