SEAMIC Newsletter Vol. 10

Industrial minerals
Industrial minerals are found in all the regions of Tanzania. However, only a few have been
developed for local use and even fewer for export.
Phosphate: Igneous phosphate deposits include: Panda Hill carbonatite has 4% P 2 O 5 resource
of 200Mt; Sangu Ikola carbonatite has 10% P 2 O 5 resource of 8-10Mt. ; Zizi carbonatite has
7% P 2 O 5 , a resource of 57Mt. Sedimentary deposits of mainly guano phosphate include
Minjingu phosphate with 20% P 2 O 5 resource of 10Mt is currently processed for direct
application.
Limestone: Wazo Hill limestone reserves are estimated at 20Mt. Pongwe Maweni limestone
deposit has reserves 10 million tons of cement. Songwe Limestone deposit of 72Mt is mined
for lime, cement and dimension stones. Small scale lime operations are scattered all over the
country and there are medium scale lime works at Maweni, and Pongwe Tanga and Dar es
Salaam.
Magnesite: Magnesite reserves at the defunct Chambogo mine are over 280,000t. At Loblosoit
a reserve of 4,926,377 tons were proven. Other deposits include: Gelai, Markestain, Kwepungu,
Haneti, Mgagao in Pare Mts, Lugalla Hills in Morogoro, Vugu Mts in Handeni, Msanya Hills
in Chunya, Ngasamo in Mwanza and Kikombo in Dodoma.
Gypsum: Gypsum is mined at Itigi, Kilwa, Msagali, Makanya (1Mt) and Mkomazi (829, 000t).
The Itigi gypsum is good for chalk and plaster powder (now under production). The Kilwa
occurrence (2Mt) are likely to have enough gypsum for plaster board production.
Bentonite: Gelai bentonite deposit has been estimated over 300,000t of which 200,000t are of
high (first) quality bentonite. Other occurrences are at Sinya and Minjungu.
Mica: Mica occurrences in the pegmatite are scattered within the country and have enough
scrap mica to keep small scale collectors busy for several years while sending products to the
paint industry. Vermiculite is utilised sparingly in energy efficient charcoal stoves made in small
scale workshops. New attempts should be made on its use as a commodity in hypoponic
agriculture
Graphite: Graphite resources are mainly within the Usagaran Supergroup. It includes
occurrences at Merelani, Nachingwea, and Ndanda/Chikundi. Others are at Mahenge, East
Ulanga Mpwapwa, Mlali and in Rukwa.
Bauxite: Bauxite occurrences at Amani and Lushoto have grades as high as 57.72% and with a
minimum of 20% Al 2 O 3 .
Soda ash: Lake Natron has reserves of about 136 million tons of Na 2 CO 3 , 28.7 million tons of
NaCl, 5.4 million tons of Na 2 SO 4 and 2.4 million tons of NaF, etc. Others are in Bahi swamp
and Lake Balangida (580,000t).
Kaolin: Sedimentary type Kaolin deposits at Pugu hill have an estimated resource of 2,000 Mt
and the primary (residual) type kaolin at Chimala, Mbeya has an estimated resource of 26Mt
(white), 12Mt (pink). The Malangali kaolin requires further exploration.
Refractories: Glass sands in coastal areas including Pugu kaolin by-products have sand reserves
of 1,234,000 t. The Lake Victoria shore sands amount to 1,000,000 t of white high quality sand
at Bukoba.
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