Kahama — WOMEN in the country have been challenged to engage in mining activities to expand their scope of job opportunities that will boost their earnings for improved livelihood.

Barrick Buzwagi General Manager Eng Zonnastraal Mumbi made the remarks at the weekend in an event to eulogise the contributions of women working at Buzwagi.

"The number of women working in the mining industry is on the rise, with Barrick Gold Mine claiming to employ more women in engineering, technical and other mining related fields," she said.

Currently women work in the whole spectrum of mining operations from artisanal and small-scale mining to large-scale mining operations.

These are namely engineers, geologists and other scientists, but many women in mining are manual labourers.

The government through the Tanzania Mineral Policy, 2009 commits to promote participation of women in mining activities by ensuring that all programmes related to mining including education and training opportunities are based on gender equality and equity.

Across the extractive industry subsectors, women are still in the minority of between 6 and 28 per cent of those directly involved are women, depending on the sector'.

Women in Tanzania own and control only a small component of the extractives sector. They constitute almost 25 per cent of the mining operations, many participating directly as service providers.

With an estimated third of the world's mineral resources located in Africa, integrating mining with sustainable development to achieve social and economic benefits has never been more crucial.

Artisanal and small-scale mining is a complex and diversified sector, ranging from informal individual miners seeking a subsistence livelihood to small-scale commercial mining entities.