The Mozambican government has granted 148 prospecting licenses in Niassa, in northern Mozambique, according to the provinces director for mining resources, Sertório Aurélio, cited by Mozambican news agency AIM.

In the province, which borders Tanzania, there are mining resources such as gold, rubies, sapphires, phosphates, garnets, limestone, lead, zinc, tourmalines, aquamarines and coal, and the government admits the region may also contain diamond deposits.

The provincial director for mining resources in Niassa said that there was room for granting more licenses, particularly for prospecting, given that the potential of that part of the country had yet to be properly quantified.

Many of the resources are being explored in an informal way by artisanal miners and small-scale foreign operators, particularly in the Great Lakes area, which are involved in mining these resources, namely precious stones.

In terms of Tete province, the government has issued over 110 mining exploration licenses to 45 national and foreign companies, but Mozambican involvement in these projects is still low.

In June the Mozambican government launched a unique month-long public tender exclusively open to Mozambican companies that wanted coal prospecting licenses in the Mid Zambezi basin, in Tete province, central Mozambique. (macauhub)