Technical Support for Small Scale Miners Regulations 2025

On 17 April 2025, the Minister for Minerals issued the Technical Support for Small-Scale Miners Regulations 2025 (Regulations) and below is the summary thereof:

1. The Regulations shall apply to all Small-Scale Miners (Licensee) (Regulation 2).
2. Licensee has been defined to mean the owner of a Primary Mining Licence (PML).
3. “Technical Support” has been defined to mean mining expertise, machinery or equipment, machinery operating techniques, or expertise on carrying out mining activities not available in Tanzania, for purposes of assisting in exploration, mining, and processing of minerals intended to be mined under a primary mining license as provided under section 8(3) of the Mining Act 2010 Cap 123 RE 2019.
4. Licensee shall be offered the Technical Support through a written agreement between the Licensee and the Facilitator (Technical Support Agreement / TSA) (Regulation 4).  A TSA submitted will be reviewed and registered by the Mining Commission.
5. TSA shall be either in English or Kiswahili language and shall be implemented and interpreted in accordance with the Laws of Tanzania.
6. The Licensee shall have the right to enter into the TSA with one Facilitator for not more than 10 mining licenses per agreement, in the same area (Regulation 5).
7. The obligations of the Resident Mines Officers (RMOs), the Facilitator and Licensee under these Regulations are provided for under Regulations 6, 7 and 8 respectively.
8. TSA shall consider profit sharing mechanisms as provided for under Regulation 9(a) and 9(b).
9. The Licensee shall receive a gross profit from the mineral production and concentrates of not less than 30% after royalties, inspection fees and all Government charges have been paid without taking into account running costs of the project incurred by the Facilitator.
10. The management of the mine operations will be a joint responsibility between the Facilitator and the Licensee and all workers in the mine shall be Tanzanian citizens only except in matters requiring technical assistance in accordance with these Regulations (Regulation 10).
11. The Facilitator in collaboration with the Licensee shall ensure equipment and machineries for provision of Technical Support are supplied to the mine and the Licensee should notify the RMO (Regulation 11).
12. The Licensee and the Facilitator shall be responsible for maintaining the security of the property and the licensed area throughout the term of the TSA (Regulation 12).
13. The TSA shall be for a term not exceeding 3 years from the date of registration and shall be eligible for renewal 3 months before its expiry for a period not exceeding 12 years considering the term of the licence (Regulation 13).  All TSAs will be reviewed by the Mining Commission before registration and if the Mining Commission decides not to register the TSA, it will give the applicant reasons thereof.  
14. In case there will be a change of law affecting implementation of part or the whole of TSA, then the Facilitator and the Licensee will have to negotiate and agree to new terms under the TSA that conform to the change of law effect and amend the TSA to incorporate the changes and submit to the Mining Commission review and reregistration.
15. Subject to issuance of 30 days notice, parties shall have a right to terminate the TSA due to the reasons provided for under Regulation 16:
    • if one party is not satisfied with the implementation of the terms of the TSA;
    • the depletion of minerals in the relevant license area;
    • if one party discovers fraudulent acts such as theft of minerals, machinery, equipment and other assets in the mine and fraud regarding the calculation of the amount of minerals produced, or other types of fraud that will affect the implementation of the TSA;
    • if the license is revoked; and
    • if the license expires and is not renewed.
16. Any dispute between the Facilitator and the Licensee regarding implementation of the TSA shall be resolved through peaceful negotiations and if that fails, then the aggrieved party shall have a right to escalate the matter to designated legal authorities (Regulation 20).
17. The Mining Commission shall be responsible for overseeing, reviewing, and monitoring the implementation of all TSAs (Regulation 21).