"Tanzania orders audit of mining companies' earnings over taxes"

Tanzania's President John Magufuli has ordered a special audit of mining companies to determine if they pay their fair share of taxes to the...country. Mining contributes 3.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in Tanzania, Africa's fourth-largest gold producer, but the government wants the sector to pay more taxes. The order for an audit follows an abrupt ban on exports of gold and copper concentrates. "The government wants to verify if the relevant taxes are actually being paid," Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said in a statement...

Tanzania's biggest mining firm, Acacia Mining, is in talks with the government after being hit hard by the ban on exports, with the miner saying it is incurring a daily loss of $1 million due to the stoppage...The president said he has instructed officials to impound over 250 shipping containers of gold and copper concentrate owned by Acacia Mining at Dar es Salaam pending a tax probe...Acacia said it pays all local taxes on its gold and copper concentrate before exporting the shipment and follows all government procedure. "The concentrate revenue is also included in our royalty payment declarations and income tax returns to the TRA (Tanzania Revenue Authority)," it said in a statement