Buzwagi Gold Mine is an

open pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of minin ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

mine in the

Shinyanga Region __NOTOC__ Shinyanga Region (''Mkoa wa Shinyanga'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The regional capital is the municipality of Shinyanga. The region is bordered to the north by the Mwanza, Mara, and Kagera Reg ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, located 6 kilometres southeast from the town of Kahama. It is operated by Acacia Mining. It is one of three gold mines Acacia Mining operates in Tanzania, the other two being Bulyanhulu and the North Mara Gold Mine. In the financial year 2014, the company produced a combined amount of 719,000 attributable ounces of gold.

History

Gold mining in Tanzania in modern times dates back to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

colonial period, beginning with gold discoveries near Lake Victoria in 1894. The first gold mine in what was then Tanganyika, the Sekenke Mine, began operation in 1909, and gold mining in Tanzania experienced a boom between 1930 and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. By 1967, gold production in the country had dropped to insignificance but was revived in the mid-1970s, when the gold price rose once more. In the late 1990s, foreign mining companies started investing in the exploration and development of gold deposits in Tanzania, leading to the opening of a number of new mines. Barrick acquired Buzwagi, alongside Tulawaka, as part of its acquisition of Pangea Goldfields Inc. in 2000.Overview / Profile&categoryChosen=History of ABG ABG African Barrick Gold website: History
accessed: 24 July 2010 The mine, the second largest mining operation and the largest single open pit mine in Tanzania, opened in 2009. The mine was construction for Buzwagi cost approximately $400 million, and employed more than 3,000 staff. It consists of an open pit mine, ore processing facilities, a waste rock storage facility, a tailings storage facility, as well as water management and other ancillary facilities. In 2009, Buzwagi employed close to 1,500 staff. It has, as of 2014, an expected mine life of 5 years remaining. In 2010, 60 employees were suspended, after Barrick discovered widespread fuel theft by employees at the mine.

References

External links

Barrick website

African Barrick Gold website

''Secretariat of the

African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) is a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. Formerly known as African, Caribbean and Pacific Group o ...

website'' {{Gold mines in Tanzania Barrick Gold Gold mines in Tanzania Surface mines in Tanzania Buildings and structures in the Shinyanga Region 2009 establishments in Tanzania