Tarime — The Government has banned the use of water from Tigithe River in North Mara, Tarime District, it has been learnt.

The step has been taken pending a thorough analysis of the water which is said to be contaminated by acid from the North Mara Gold Mine (NMGM) tailing ponds.

Nonetheless, it is feared that implementation of the ban is likely to fail. This is because nearly 2,500 villagers rely on it for drinking and other domestic purposes; yet they have not been provided with an alternative.

But the minister of state in the Vice-President's Office (Environment), Dr Batilda Buriani, said:

"Tanzanians should have confidence in their Government. We will continue attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), but not to the detriment of our people."

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation would look for alternative sources of water for the villagers, she said.

She explained that experts were sent to the villages to study the river water's chemical components.

Dr Buriani said the Government had also directed the NMGM to recruit competent community development personnel to restore the damaged relations between the investor and villagers.

The latter would be awarded tenders to undertake various services required by the mine. This would make them benefit from operations of the mine, she said.

The deputy minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Aisha Kigoda, said health experts were also taking samples to determine causes of the villagers' diseases,

The Government had so far no scientific information to directly link the diseases and 43 reported deaths of the villagers to acid seeping from the mine ponds into the river, she said.

Energy and Minerals minister William Ngeleja said the poor relationship between the mine management and villagers was greatly to blame.

But he was optimistic that the over Sh3 billion worth project for small-scale miners surrounding NMGM would mend them.

Four economic groups of small-scale miners have already been identified and registered. To cap it all, modern mining facilities were due to arrive for the NMGM funded project to take off next month.

The Government has set aside several mining areas for small-scale miners to ease the ongoing stormy relationships with large-scale miners, Mr Ngeleja said.

He named some of the mining areas set aside for the small-scale miners as 5,000 acres in Geita district, 10,000 acres at Mirerani as well as 260,000 acres in Kilindi and Kilosa districts of Tanga and Morogoro regions, respectively.

He said 200 acres were also set aside for the same purpose in Magu district. "The Government is establishing a special fund for small-scale miners to access loans for procuring modern mining equipment," he added.