Expert touts legal framework for uranium

Written by MASEMBE TAMBWE 

LACK of competent personnel and an effective legal framework have been cited as the missing link in the exploitation and development of uranium deposits that the government wants to venture in.

An environmental Lawyer and Director of the Environment Centre, Dr Rugemeleza Nshala said during a Policy Forum debate  in Dar es Salaam that the country lacks a robust legal and institutional regime to oversee the uranium mining industry along the value chain as is the case with exploration, extraction, transportation, beneficiation and marketing.

"Uranium mining institutions are almost non-existent. The current institutions do not have the requisite human, technological and financial means to oversee uranium operations in Tanzania," he said. Dr Nshala said one major problem at the moment was that small companies masquerading as foreign investors had rushed into the country and taken advantage of the geological data from previous exploration carried  out in the 1970s.

Between 1976 and 1979 the Tanzania government commissioned a number of geological surveys that led to the discovery of uranium deposits in the country.Given the drop of uranium prices in the world market, the government stopped those explorations in 1980. However, prices of uranium recovered in the past two decades which has created an impetus for resumption of uranium exploration in different parts of the world including Tanzania.

Dr Nshala cited there were many anomalies in the different legislations that current exist like the case of Mining Development Agreements (MDA) where the Mining Act shows that they are for applicants of holders of special mining licences with capital bases of 100 million US Dollars.It stipulates that there must be due diligence conducted by the applicant showing that they have the financial and technical ability to efficiently undertake such operations.

"No specific person or institution is assigned the task of conducting due diligence. However since the Minister is the one who has powers to negotiate, as stated in the law, MDAs, a necessary interference can be drawn that it is the Minister who is supposed to undertake such a function," he said.

He said that it was a very serious anomaly because most of the time the Minister is a politician who does not have the necessary technical and professional expertise of the mining industry and cannot perform such an important function. The lawyer said that the Minister was also not required to seek and obtain internal and external professional assistance to undertake such tasks and in short the Act vested the Minister with powers to negotiate in ignorance.

The royalty rate was also faulted where uranium mining companies are required to pay 5 per cent which is calculated on the gross value of the minerals, meaning that the market value of minerals at the point of refining or sale or in case of consumption with Tanzania, at the point of delivery within Tanzania.

"It is inadvisable to charge royalty rate on the value of the minerals but rather on the volume of the production while the value at the point of refinery may seem to be good - this entails the deduction of the production, insurance and refining costs," he said. Dr Nshala explained that  since refining operations were not conducted in the country and the government does not have the necessary capacity to verify such costs, it is forced to accept the uranium companies' figures to that effect.

The Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission Director of Nuclear Technology, Dr Mwijarubi Nyaruba discussing the debate said that uranium was a naturally occurring mineral and that problems start when it starts being mined.Dr Nyaruba said that at the moment all the government wants to do was mining and transporting uranium, but concurred with Dr Nshala that qualified and competent personnel engaged in the sector were needed.

"As we head towards the exploration of mining uranium, we should remember the importance of complying with transport regulations, having proper waste management, good record keeping and reporting to authorities when disaster strikes," he said. Dr Nyaruba said that the major challenges that he sees was the overlapping or having similar mandates of the Mining and Atomic Act, there was no collaboration among stakeholders involved in regulating uranium mining and need to have clear standards.

Source: Daily News (29/09/2012): http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/9994-expert-touts-legal-framework-for-uranium