The country is in the final stages of approving a permit for the country’s first rare earths mine to ASX-listed Australian company Peak Resources as the government seeks a bigger share of revenue from natural resources. The state is also finalising a gold-mining permit for another Australian company, OreCorp at the Nyanzaga project in the northwest of the country, according to mining minister Doto Biteko. Peak Resources applied for the special mining licence in 2017 to mine neodymium and praseodymium at world’s largest undeveloped site. The East African nation is Africa’s fourth-biggest producer of the precious metal and plans to increase mineral earnings by at least a third during the next three years. It also has vast deposits of coal, rare-earth metals, iron ore and gemstones. Rare earths are used in components for electric vehicles, smartphones, renewable energy equipment and defence applications.
SOURCE: BUSINESS DAY LIVE