Tanzania's firebrand leader takes on its largest gold miner

"If they accept that they stole from us and seek forgiveness in front of God and the angels and all Tanzanians and enter into negotiations, we are ready to do business."

As conciliatory gestures go, that one by John Magufuli, Tanzania's president, to Acacia Mining, the country's largest foreign investor, could hardly have been more fork-tongued.

Nonetheless, two days later John Thornton, head of Barrick Gold, Acacia's largest shareholder, met Mr. Magufuli to start talks on ending a dispute that has halved Acacia's market value since the government in March imposed a ban on the export of gold and copper concentrates. It is a mark of the seriousness of the standoff that he is ready to negotiate on all points of contention between the two sides.

The context of the row is increasingly typical of Africa’s mining industry. The Tanzanian government is seeking more tax revenue from a foreign mining firm that was initially wooed into the country by generous tax concessions. The state also wants to generate more value and jobs by smelting Acacia's concentrates domestically, rather than abroad. ...

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