Petra Diamonds, an international mining group has put up Tanzania’s Williamson mine for sale. Williamson diamond mine is located 23km Northeast of Shinyanga. In a released statement to the media, the company stated that it is also looking to sell its South African mines.
Meanwhile, the Deputy minister for minerals said that the Tanzanian government is yet to be officially notified on the matter. The government owns a 25% stake in the mine which up until recently was under care and maintenance.
Three years back, the mine underwent a series of challenges including a government sanctioned parliamentary probe for alleged tax evasion. At the time, the government also proceeded to seize some of the diamond consignments.
Company financials
Earlier on this year in March, Petra launched a strategic review of its finances. According to media reports for the third quarter ending March 31, revenue fell 32%. This was partly attributed to weak sales during the month which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, Williamson mine has been reportedly going downhill since 2017 following the parliamentary probe into discrepancies in diamond mining in the region. The probe reportedly exposed weak mining contracts between selected government officials and the mining companies.
Further, the committee in charge of the probe revealed conflicting data on the actual amount of diamond transported outside the country among various government institutions. According to the committee, reports from the Ministry of minerals showed that Tanzania exported diamonds valued at US $362.1m in the period between 2007 and 2016.
However, and conversely, for the same period the Tanzania Minerals Audit Agency valued the exports at US 374.6m. Additionally, the Ministry had reported US 18m in royalty fee payments whereas the Audit Agency had the same at US $15m.
