DAR ES SALAAM, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's State Mining Corporation (STAMICO) said on Tuesday its main focus in 2019 will be on looking for viable business opportunities, continually improving the state-owned firm's balance sheets, and meeting its shareholders' and customers' expectations.
"These goals can only be attained through continued teamwork, hard work and dedication while keeping our priorities right," Sylvester Damian Ghuliku, STAMICO's acting managing director, said in a statement.
He added the company will strive to be an agent for change through innovative solutions, while continuing to develop good relationships with surrounding communities by fulfilling its corporate social responsibilities through projects.
He said the corporation was looking forward to 2019 while positioning itself to increase its capacity to generate revenue.
"This optimism is fuelled by financial projections indicating that in 2019, the prices of most metals are expected to be higher on average than the previous year," Ghuliku said.
Looking back on 2018, he said the past year was vibrant because of some positive and significant developments in the corporation's projects despite unstable global market conditions.
He said during 2018, STAMICO successfully re-operationalized mining operations in its Kabulo coal project, using a new mining contractor to start producing about 18,200 tonnes of coal per month to meet market demands for coal fuel.
At the same time, STAMICO rehabilitated a coal crusher at its Kiwira Coal Mine using own resources, with the aim of increasing its capacity to meet customer demands for different types of coal products, said Ghuliku.
He added that STAMICO has reached in the final stages of negotiations with the most responsive bidder towards starting implementation of gold tailings processing at its brownfield project at Buhemba Gold Mine.
However, Ghuliku said 2018 was not favorable in terms of securing drilling contracts and consultancy services, attributing this mainly to slow market conditions and low metal prices.
He said STAMICO has signed memorandums of understanding with some potential investors who are technically and financially capable of implementing a number of projects planned for year 2019.
