Katoro upbeat after Tanzania regulatory changes

Tanzania-focussed gold exploration and development company Katoro Gold updated the market on its Imweru Gold Project on Thursday.

The AIM-traded firm said that, further to its announcement on 20 March and having completed its assessment of the economic feasibility of Imweru, based on the preliminary pre-feasibility results and the new mining legislation and regulations in Tanzania, it was of the opinion that there remained good upside exploration and development potential for the further development of the project.

Additionally, it said Tanzania's new Mining Commission sat for the first-time last week and indicated that it was open to engaging with companies to ensure the economic success of projects within the framework of the current mining legislation.

The company said it therefore looked forward to continuing its engagement with the Ministry of Minerals to determine the next steps with regards to the development of Imweru.

Additionally, Katoro said it had made “excellent progress” as it seeked to diversify its portfolio, having now assessed “several projects” and drawn up a short-list of those which fit its investment criteria.

“We are delighted that the exploration [and] development upside potential for Imweru remains and hope that following further dialogue with the new Tanzanian Ministry of Minerals, we can take the project forward and ultimately develop a gold mine,” said executive chairman Louis Coetzee.

“Our optimism is further bolstered by the latest positive outcomes of discussions between the Tanzania Chamber of Mines and the MoM in relation to various contentious matters in the current mining legislation.

“In tandem with this, we have established a short-list of exciting other potential value-adding projects and look forward to updating shareholders on progress in this regard in the future.”