KAMPUNI YA UCHIMBAJI MADINI YA ACACIA YAPINGA RIPOTI YA UCHUNGUZI WA MCHANGA WA MADINI ALIYOPOKEA RAIS MAGUFULI
Kampuni ya uchimbaji wa madini ya Acacia
imetoa taarifa kwa umma na kueleza kuwa kamati iliyofanya uchunguzi
kuhusu mchanga wa madini imepotosha juu ya uwepo wa viwango mbalimbali
vya madini kwenye mchanga.
Hii ni taarifa yao muda mfupi baada ya rais Magufuli kupokea ripoti hiyo
By Brad Gordon | Chief Executive Officer | Acacia Mining PLC
Response to this morning’s Press
Conference and presentation of the First Presidential Committee’s report
on the export of metallic mineral concentrates to the President of
Tanzania.
Many of you would have seen this
morning’s press conference held at State House at which the First
Presidential Committee presented its findings on its investigation into
the export of gold/copper concentrates.
The Committee has stated that Acacia has
not fully declared all of the minerals contained in the concentrate
that it exports and the directive halting the export of metallic mineral
concentrates remains in place.
We do not agree with the Committee’s
findings which state that the value of minerals within the concentrates
in the containers currently at the Dar-es-Salaam port is more than 10
times the amount we declare. We are confident in the accuracy of our
declarations which are checked and verified by SGS, which is one of the
world’s largest testing companies. The concentrate we produce has some
small variances, and each container has different declared quantities of
concentrate, but we firmly believe that each container contains on
average around 3,000kg of copper, 3 kg of gold and 3 kg of silver.
Together, these metals are worth an average of Tsh300 million per
container.
We are also a listed company with our
accounts being audited extensively by PWC, which verifies that we are
fully transparent in everything we do. The revenues we state in our
audited accounts match the amount of gold that we declare we produce and
sell. If the amount of gold in our concentrates was in line with the
Committee findings, then it implies that both Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi
would produce more gold than any other mine in the world. Sadly this is
not the case.
I appreciate that when events like today
happen it creates uncertainty and makes people question who to believe.
I want to reassure you that Acacia fully declares everything of
commercial value that we produce. We also pay all appropriate royalties
and taxes on all of the payable minerals that we produce and that the
exporting of the concentrate takes place in full compliance with
Tanzanian law and the legal agreements that we have with the Tanzanian
Government.
Whilst we have listened to today’s
presentation and seen a transcript of the press conference, until we
receive a copy of the full report it is difficult to comment on or
reconcile the specific numbers and values attributed to Acacia’s
metallic mineral concentrates by the Committee, but I repeat, we believe
in the numbers we declare.
Whilst we await the report I will
respond to one question about royalties that has been raised among the
workforce. Under the mining act the Government receives royalties of 4%
of the minerals of commercial value namely gold, silver and copper
contained in the concentrates. Acacia has always paid the royalty and
there is a robust audit trail to demonstrate this. Whilst there are
other minerals contained in the concentrate, these are of no commercial
value. This is due to the small quantities and the cost to extract them
exceeds their value, and so no royalty is due.
Obviously today has been a difficult day
for everyone at Acacia. I can assure you that we are doing everything
we can to ensure that all of our stakeholders believe in the integrity
of Acacia. We have fully declared everything that we produce and have
done so since Barrick first entered Tanzania over 15 years ago. We have
not cheated the country that we operate in and whose people make up 96%
of our workforce. Please continue to work safely as that is the most
important thing and I will continue to provide you with updates and
hopefully clarity as we move through the coming weeks.