Dar Es Salaam — TANZANIA has bright future in mining exploitation because of increased transparency and the fact that only 10 per cent of its total mineral reserves are extracted, Judge Mark Bomani has said.

Mr Bomani, the chairman of Multi-Stakeholder Working Group of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (EITI) said yesterday in Dar es Salaam that Tanzanians must be optimistic about the future.

He made the comment during the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and EITI's working group which will implement principles and criteria in promoting transparency and accountability in revenues generated from minerals, gas and oil.

"This initiative is very important as the country still have huge mineral resources - all revenues from extractive industries will be published to make sure that it benefit Tanzanians," said Bomani.

Judge Bomani who in 2007 chaired the Committee to review mining contracts in the country said Tanzania would start extraction of nickel mine which will be the biggest mine in the country and would provide huge revenues to the nation.

"Apart from these ordinary mineral Tanzania has many uranium deposits which if carefully be handled would benefit the country," he said when asked about the future of the mining sector and its benefit to people.

The EITI is a global coalition of governments, companies, civil society, and investors to implement standardized and internationally recognized procedures for transparency in natural resource management.

The Energy and Minerals Minister, Mr William Ngeleja, said despite challenges in the mining sector, the country had benefited a lot and will continue to benefit because the government was addressing the challenges.

Mr Ngeleja said for instance districts and towns where there are mining activities have greatly developed compared with the situation ten years ago.

The minister noted that perhaps the challenges in the sector were caused by the country's lack of experience compared to other African giants such as Ghana, South Africa and Botswana who had between 50 and 100 years of experience compared to 12 in Tanzania.

"We still have time to learn, I am confident that as time goes our experience will help us do better," he noted.

Tanzania joined EITI in 2008 and later formed the working group that comprised members from various sectors including civil society organisations.