(Bloomberg) -- Tanzania intends to cancel permits for mineral sites belonging to large-scale miners that remain undeveloped and will allocate the licences to smallholders, President John Magufuli said.
The announcement comes amid a tax dispute between the state and Acacia Mining Plc, in which the government is demanding $190 billion in penalties, after claiming the company had under-declared export revenue since 2000.
The East African nation surpassed its mining-revenue targets for the first half of the current fiscal year by 8 percent to 167.5 billion shillings ($72.3 million), Magufuli told mining executives in the commercial hub of Dar es Salaam Tuesday. Earnings in the 2017-18 year jumped 55 percent to 301 billion shillings, he said.
The state intends to hold discussions with mining companies on obstacles restraining the sector, Mining Minister Doto Biteko told the executives. The industry contributed 4.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2017, compared with 4 percent in 2015, Magufuli said.
Read: Acacia Seeks Direct Talks With Tanzania as Dispute Escalates
To contact the reporter on this story: Ken Karuri in Dar es Salaam at kkaruri@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Helen Nyambura, Liezel Hill
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