DAR ES SALAAM, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Tuesday suspended issuance of new mining licenses to investors.
Speaking on the second day of his two-day visit to Lake Zone regions, Magufuli ordered the Ministry of Energy and Minerals to ensure that it issued no mining licenses at the moment.
"At the same time all mining licenses issued by the government should be reviewed to see how the government is benefiting," said the president.
He said minerals, including gold, that were being mined in the country belonged to Tanzanians, and that his administration would not tolerate seeing a few individuals benefiting from the country's natural resources while leaving majority Tanzanians swimming in poverty.
Last week, the government tabled in Parliament bills designed to review and amend mining laws following a recent directive by Magufuli.
Magufuli last month received findings of the second probe by the presidential committee on mineral concentrates that said Tanzania might have lost millions of dollars in revenue from mining operations during the past two decades.
On June 12, Magufuli ordered relevant authorities, including Parliament, to review and amend mining laws to ensure that the East African nation benefited from its resources.
Speaking shortly after he was presented with the probe report, the president also ordered review and amendment of laws pertaining to the oil and gas industry.
Nehemiah Osoro, the chairman of a special committee that compiled the second mineral concentrates report, said the report revealed massive cheating by mining companies on the amount of gold exports and tax evasion.
For example, said Osoro, the report showed that between 1998 and March 2017, between 44,000 and 61,000 containers of mineral concentrates worth between 49.12 billion and 83.32 billion U.S. dollars were exported without the country getting a single cent from tax.
