Happiest countries for living in the World in 2025, no.5 will surprise you

By Lake Zone Watch writer

THE Tarime-based giant North Mara Gold Mine has handed over cheques worth 1.498bn/- to five nearby villages as royalty payment for the first quarter of this year 2025.

The royalty payment is equivalent to one per cent of the value of gold produced by the mine during the past four months of this year, according to the Barrick North Mara General Manager Mr Apolinary Lyambiko.

Royalty is in essence the compensation for the right to use, exploit or benefit from an asset; and for the Tarime villages surrounding the North Mara Gold Mine, this is the payment to land owners for the right to extract minerals for their real property.

The ceremony to hand over the royalty payment cheques was last week held at Nyamongo and presided over by the Minister of Minerals, Anthony Mavunde.

The royalty recipient village were Nyangoto, Kerende, Nyamwaga, Genkuru, and Kewanja.

Previously, these five villages held the right to extract gold at the Nyabigena mine (now part of the North Mara Gold Mine), which in 2019 was handed over to Barrick Corporation to be run as a joint venture with the Tanzanian government under the administration of Twiga Minerals.

After Barrick’s geological research, production at the Nyabigena mine began in 2023 following suspension in 2017.

Mr Lyambiko said the quarterly 1.498bn/- royalty dished out by the mine to the five villages makes the dividend to reach a total of 8.383bn/- since June 2023 to the present.

Speaking at the same occasion, incumbent Tarime Rural Member of Parliament Mwita Waitra appealed to the leadership of the five villagers to use the royalty funds in solving existing developmental challenges and to transform the socio-economic wellbeing of the villagers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Minerals handed over mining licenses to 48 groups of 1,736 youth in villages surrounding the mine.

Handing over the licences to the youth group leaders, Minister Mavunde said those licences were in response to President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s directive to create dependable employment for the youth to enable them participate fully in effort to grown the country’s economy.