DAR ES SALAAM, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tanzania and Barrick Gold Corporation, the largest shareholder of Acacia Mining Plc, on Monday began talks seeking to end a long standing dispute over royalties Acacia allegedly owes the east African nation's gold exports.
A statement issued by the Directorate of Presidential Communications in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam said the talks were between President John Magufuli's special committee led by the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Palamagamba Kabudi and Barrick Gold Corporation Chief Executive Officer Richard Williams.
"Our committee is well prepared and we are looking forward to having fruitful talks," said Kabudi shortly before the talks started.
For his part, Williams said Barrick Gold Corporation was looking forward to reaching an amicable conclusion at the end of the talks.
In June this year, President Magufuli met with Prof John Thornton, Chairman of Barrick Gold Canada, to discuss the mineral sand saga after Magufuli received two reports on the exports of copper concentrates.
President Magufuli had said the meeting was successful and Barrick had "repented" for what had happened and they were now ready to compensate Tanzania for the loss that the country had incurred over the years.
However, after the proposed talks were seemingly delayed, President Magufuli on July 21 threatened to shut down foreign gold mining companies if the proposed talks continued to be delayed.
The disputes between the government and the mining firms center on royalties, which President Magufuli said Tanzania has been denied its due payments for a very long time.
The talks were initiated after two presidential committees revealed that Tanzania had lost over 45 billion U.S. dollars in royalties since Acacia Plc started to operate in the country in the 1990s.
Last week, Tanzania slapped Acacia Mining with 190-billion U.S. dollars fines and unpaid taxes from two of its Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi mines.
Acacia said in a statement the government of Tanzania sent a 40 billion dollars tax bill along with an additional 150 billion dollars in penalties and interest owned.
The fine allegedly included under-declared export revenues from Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi mines between 2000 and 2017.
In response, Acacia said that it has been declaring all revenues fully.
President Magufuli said Tanzania has been losing billions of dollars in exports of copper concentrates which mining companies were taking abroad for smelting.
In March this year, President Magufuli formed two committees which probed the technical aspects of the gold concentrates and the economic and legal frameworks around the exports.
Early this month, the National Assembly approved laws aimed at forcing mining companies to renegotiate their contracts. President Magufuli has already assented the laws.
Acacia Mining said recently that it was seeking an adjudicator to resolve its dispute with the government.
Acacia, Tanzania's largest miner, said in a statement that notices of arbitration were served on behalf of companies that own Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi mines which were hit by an export ban.
