The Deprivation Of Mineral Rights To The People Of Tanzania: An Examination Of Root Causes

This study examines the causes of Mineral deprivation to the people of Tanzania. The study is a result of people and particularly small scale miner‘s prolonged grievances in the sense that the country does not benefit from its mineral deposits. This reason pushed a researcher to find out what causes their endless grievances.Tanzania is truly a country blessed with a good number of Mineral Resources. It is a developing country located in Eastern Africa, bordering Kenya and Uganda to the North, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) to the West, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the South and the Indian Ocean to the East. Its Mineral deposits including uranium, tin, phosphates, iron ore, coal, diamonds, gemstones, gold, natural gas and nickel. Best known for gold and diamond production, Tanzania is also home to the only source of the rare gemstone Tanzanite. But despite the fact that the Country has all these mineral wealth, people are complaining of not benefiting from them.Chapter one explains the general understanding of the country, what amount of mineral deposits the country has, statement of the problem, objective of the study, scope and significance of the study. It also explains the methods that a researcher employed to reach conclusion which includes field interview and documentary review. Whereas Chapter two explains contextual analysis and mining actual situations in Pre-colonial, Colonial and Post-colonial Tanzania. Chapter three talks about Mining Contracts and Agreements in Tanzania.Chapter four explains about Small scale mining and the challenges they face, the chapter also explains about the principle of Permanent Sovereignty over natural resources. However the findings shows a good number of reasons including, corruption, cheating, smuggling of minerals abroad and poor government supervision.The study recommends among other things that, the government should fully implement the laws of the land without fear or favor. Also foreigners should exercise their given rights in good faith for both part‘s benefit.