UAE firm joins team on Buckreef project

A BUCKREEF gold mine project owned jointly by Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corporation and State Mining Corporation (Stamico) has a third partner in United Arab Emirates based Allied Gold Corporation.

In a recent statement, the company said, “Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corporation and Allied Gold Corp. of United Arab Emirates are pleased to announce the signing of a letter of intent to develop a commercially producing mine in the area known as Buziba-Busolwa in Tanzania.”

The statement further noted that in a stand-alone development that will encompass the Buziba site within the company’s Buckreef Gold Project is under its subsidiary called Buckreef Gold Company Limited.

“Buckreef Gold Company Limited, a project subsidiary of Tanzanian Royalty owned 55 per cent by Tanzanian Royalty and 45 per cent by Stamico, has signed a letter of intent with ARL Gold Tanzania Limited, a subsidiary of AGC,” the statement added.

It further noted that the deal is aimed at concluding a definitive joint venture agreement in connection with a joint venture to be created for the development of a producing gold mine at Buziba-Busolwa.

In 2011, TRE signed an agreement to partner with Stamico to jointly develop the Buckreef project which has been idle for several years.

President and Chief Executive Officer of TRE, James Sinclair soon after signing the agreement with Stamico, said the arrangement is promising.

“If companies do not partner with the governments of developing nations on an equitable basis, they will not in the future obtain mineral opportunities from these mineralrich countries,” Mr Sinclair wrote in the message posted on the company”s website.

It’s the first of a major mining deal to be signed by the multination corporation which owns claim titles for vast mining areas in the Lake Victoria greenbelt and Stamico since the passing of the 2010 Mining Act.

President Jakaya Kikwete ordered major reforms in the mining sector to allow the country earn maximum proceeds from the sector, which has benefited significantly multinationals for decades because of a poor 1997 Mining Act.

Sinclair acknowledged that the country has benefited less from the sector and that it’s time for change.

“In 2009 Tanzania had exports of 1,000,000 ounces of gold yet it received income from these gold assets equivalent to 57,000 ounces,” he wrote.

SOURCE: DAILY NEWS

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