The government recently has shifted its attention from precious...

The government recently has shifted its attention from precious metals to precious stones, announcing on Sept. 20 that the military would build walls and checkpoints around tanzanite mines and the central bank would buy the stones.

A parliamentary inquiry team had said on Sept. 7 that it had uncovered massive smuggling of the blue-violet gemstone.

On the same day, the government confiscated a consignment of diamonds from a mine majority-owned by Petra Diamonds after accusing the firm of under-declaring the value of the stones by around half. Petra denies the charge.

Minerals companies and mining analysts said Tanzania could overplay its hand.

"Minerals may not be mobile but the capital that funds the mines is," said Ben Gargett, head of PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia-Africa practice. "Investors are saying, 'On our risk radar, Tanzania has just gone a lot further down on the list.'"

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/09/24/business/24reuters-tanzania-mining.html