Chinese company Henan Yudi Mining Company has signed an agreement with the Tanzanian government to develop a major graphite deposit in Morogoro Region. The project will involve an investment of $100 mln, while the government will receive a 17 per cent stake, Tanzanian newspaper Daily News reports.
The deposit is estimated to contain 104.28 mln tonnes of graphite. Once fully operational, the project will produce 50,000 tonnes of graphite a year, with processing capacity of up to 1 mln tonnes of ore annually.
Tanzanian Minister for Minerals Anthony Mavunde described the signing of the agreement as a historic event. The government expects the project to create more than 600 direct jobs for local residents.
“We are moving from merely hosting mining operations to directly participating in the value generated by our mineral resources. Tanzania is one of the countries rapidly attracting mining investment in Africa. This is due to our policies, plans, laws and favourable investment environment,” the minister said.
Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian praised the signing of the agreement and noted that China remains one of the leading sources of foreign direct investment in Tanzania.
“This project will open another area of commercial co-operation between Tanzania and China,” the ambassador said.
Graphite is a critical mineral for modern technologies, including the production of anodes for electric vehicle batteries and energy storage systems. The Morogoro project forms part of Tanzania’s strategy to develop domestic mineral processing rather than export raw materials.
Earlier in August, one of Tanzania’s leading commercial banks, Stanbic Bank, launched a direct settlement service in Chinese yuan, allowing local companies to pay Chinese suppliers and receive payments from customers in China without intermediate conversion through the US dollar.