Tanzania has set aside $3 million in grants to small-scale miners, in a plan that seeks to develop the sector and boost revenue collection.

The World Bank will be funding the programme, which targets different groups of artisan miners, with women’s groups being allocated 30 per cent of the total fund.

Minister for Minerals and Energy Sospeter Muhongo said that empowering artisanal miners would boost the economy through improved revenue collection and help the country reach its industrialisation targets.

“We are inviting in big mining companies but looking at artisanal miners to take a lead role in the mining sector,” said Prof Muhongo.

Prof Muhongo said that his ministry is also encouraging the miners to exploit gypsum and coal.

More than 1,000 small-scale miners are expected to benefit from the funding.

The move comes after the realisation that mining companies have been paying only meagre taxes to the National Treasury. A report by the Tanzania Minerals Audit Agency shows that big gold mining companies paid $178 million in taxes last year. The total value of minerals sold by major gold mines in Tanzania last year was $1.63 billion, but the firms paid barely 10 per cent of the amount in taxes.

President John Magufuli has pointed out that Tanzania has been losing revenue through tax evasion and other schemes. The Tanzanian parliament has asked the government to review mining contracts and scrap unnecessary tax exemptions for mining companies.

Acacia Mining PLC (formerly African Barrack Gold) was last year accused of tax evasion, with the Tanzania Tax Revenue Appeals Tribunal  ruling that the firm must pay the government $41.25 million in taxes. Acacia owns three mines in Tanzania, namely Bulyanhulu, North Mara and Buzwagi in Simiyu and Mara regions in Lake Victoria zone.

Other major gold mining companies in Tanzania are Geita Gold Mine owned by Anglo-Ashanti, New Luika Gold Mine and Stami-Gold.