Tanzania has urged African countries to reduce their dependence on foreign aid and instead mobilise domestic resources to finance strategic mining projects, including mineral exploration, value addition, and the development of mineral processing and refining industries. The call was made by Tanzania's Minister for Minerals Anthony Mavunde while chairing a ministerial meeting on financing Africa's mineral future at the Mining in Motion 2026 conference in Accra, Ghana, on Tuesday.
The ministerial meeting examined how African and international financial institutions can improve access to capital across the entire mineral value chain. Mr Mavunde said that greater reliance on domestic financing will enable African countries to develop their mineral resources, create jobs, build technical skills and increase export earnings from value-added mineral products. He emphasised that it is important for African countries to begin by using their domestic capacity to finance the development of the mining sector instead of relying heavily on external funding.
Implementing domestic financing strategies requires firm policy decisions, political commitment and collaboration among governments, financial institutions and the private sector, Mr Mavunde said. He cited Tanzania's experience as an example, noting that the government has established a mechanism to allocate 10 per cent of revenue collected from the mining sector to detailed geological exploration. This initiative aims to expand geological surveys and identify the country's mineral resources.
Only about 16 per cent of Tanzania's land area has undergone detailed geological exploration, leaving considerable potential for further discoveries. Mr Mavunde attributed this commitment to President Samia Suluhu Hassan's political backing for allocating 10 per cent of mining sector revenue to detailed exploration. He described this as an important step towards reducing reliance on donor funding and enabling Tanzania to finance the exploration of its own mineral resources using domestic revenue.
For Tanzanian businesses and investors, this approach could create opportunities in mining-related sectors as the country expands its exploration and develops processing and refining industries using internally generated funds.