'ACACIA HAS OPERATED ILLEGALLY FOR 19 YEARS’

The Second presidential committee report on the export of mineral concentrates has revealed that Acacia Mining Plc has been operating in the country for 19 years without any legal registration or certificate of compliance.

Presenting the report findings at State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the chairman of the committee, Professor Nehemiah Osoro, said the documents obtained from the Business Registration and Licensing Authority (BRELA) indicated that the company doesn’t have permission to conduct mineral activities and business in Tanzania.

The committee revealed that Acacia had under-declared revenues and tax payments over a number of years, occasioning loss to the government of over 380 trillion/-.

In the wake of the revelations, President Magufuli has directed that the company pay all the outstanding taxes and royalties and that the Ministry for Energy and Minerals renegotiate all large-scale Mineral Development Agreements, Government ownership in the mines and the continuation of the export ban.

According to Prof Osoro, the eight-member team found out that Acacia Mining Plc which claims to be the sole owner of Bulyanhulu Gold Mines Limited (Kahama Mine Corporation Limited), North Mara Gold Mine Limited and Pangea Gold Mine Limited) had never submitted any document or information to substantiate that it owns the three companies or has shares in them.

“Because Acacia Mining Plc is not registered and because it has no legal recognition in the country, it lacks criteria to be given a licence for mining activities or business in Tanzania,’’ he said, adding that the company was operating in the country illegally.

According to him, the committee found out that Bulyanhulu Gold Mines Limited and Pangea Minerals Limited were the producers and sellers of mineral concentrates outside the country.

According to the business contracts between the two companies and their clients, the concentrates ought to be transported outside the country when the companies have already pocketed the money from their clients, while claiming that they have shipped them outside for smelting.

The mining Act is clear that prior to the export of mineral concentrates, the licence owner shall get an export permit from the government upon payment of requisite royalties.

According to the report, Acacia Mining Plc had for 19 years been committing various offences, including providing wrong information, obtaining minerals by false pretence, evading tax, economic sabotage, transfer pricing manipulation and occasioning loss to the government, among others.

The committee further found out that Bulyanhulu and Pangea companies had been exporting mineral concentrates illegally, as well as concealing information on 277 containers at the Dar es Salaam Port whose exportation was blocked.

According to Prof Osoro, the companies said the 277 containers had mineral concentrates valued at 79.94bn/- while the real price was pegged at between 829.36bn/- and 1.4trillion/-.

The report further indicated that the royalty paid by Bulyanhulu and Pangea between 1998 and 2017 was US Dollars 111.3 million, according to documents at the companies’ offices, but the royalty paid according to documents at the Energy and Minerals Ministry indicates that only US Dollars 42.7 million only.

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