The Sekenke Gold Mine (german: Sachsenwald, "Saxon Forest") was an

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

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

Singida Region Singida Region (''Mkoa wa Singida'' in Swahili) is one of the regions of Tanzania. The regional capital is the municipality of Singida. The region is bordered to the north by Shinyanga Region, Simiyu Region and Arusha Region, to the northeast b ...

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 ...

. In the era before the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, Sekenke was the largest single producer of gold in which is now the present-day Tanzania, which was the then

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

of Tanganyika.Sekenke Tanzania
Currie Rose Resources Inc. website, accessed: 25 July 2010 The mine closed in 1959 and exploration rights in the area of the old mine now lay with Barrick Gold, through its subsidiary, ''Sekenke Exploration Limited'', while the wider area around the mine is under exploration by Currie Rose Resources Inc.

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. Sekenke became the first gold mine in Tanganyika, when it began operation in 1909, after gold having been discovered there in 1907.IRAMBA - SEKENKE GREENSTONE BELT
accessed: 25 July 2010 It was one of two mines to open in the region, the other being the Kirondatal Gold Mine. Sekenke became the largest single producer of gold in the pre-war period of the late 1930s in Tanzania, when gold mining in the country experienced a boom between 1930 and the Second World War.Tanzania Mining History
tanzaniagold.com, accessed: 24 July 2010 During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, gold from Sekenke was used to mint

coins A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

to pay German troops fighting against the allied forces in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

.Modern Gold Coins
accessed: 25 July 2010 Sekenke was developed as an underground mine, reaching up to 200 m below surface. The mine produced 140,000 ounces of gold at the time while the nearby Kirondatal mine, active from 1934 to 1950, produced just over 7,000 ounces. The Sekenke mine closed in 1959, having produced an average grade of 15.4 g/t of gold and 2.5 g/t of silver in its 50 years of operation. By 1967, gold production in Tanzania 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. Sekenke however was not reopened.

References

External links

Sekenke claim map

''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 Gold mines in Tanzania Silver mines in Tanzania Underground mines in Tanzania Buildings and structures in the Singida Region Economy of German East Africa Barrick Gold Tanganyika (territory)