When a government renews a mine’s operating licence for another 15 years, it is a vote of confidence that outlasts any single earnings quarter. On October 5, Barrick announced that Tanzania’s government had renewed the Special Mining Licences covering its North Mara gold mine for another 15 years, the same term the licences carried when they were last renewed back in 2012.
- Tanzania’s government renewed North Mara’s Special Mining Licences for 15 years, confirmed in Barrick’s October 5 release and corroborated by The Northern Miner.
- North Mara sits in Tanzania’s Tarime district, about 540 kilometres northwest of Dodoma and 20 kilometres south of the Kenyan border.
- Barrick holds an 84 percent interest through Twiga Minerals, the joint operating company it formed with Tanzania’s government in 2019; the government holds the remaining 16 percent.
- Barrick says it has put roughly $5.3 billion into Tanzania’s economy since 2019, including $1.2 billion in 2025 alone through taxes, royalties, salaries, dividends, and local procurement.
- North Mara employs about 3,000 people, 96 percent of them Tanzanian nationals, with 47 percent drawn from surrounding communities.
What did Tanzania just renew?
North Mara’s Special Mining Licences are the legal foundation for the mine to keep operating, and this is the second time they have been extended for a full 15-year term, following the original 2012 renewal. The licences cover a mine Barrick has run since 2019 through Twiga Minerals, the entity it jointly owns with the Tanzanian government alongside the Bulyanhulu gold mine. Under that structure, Barrick and the government split economic benefits equally even though the government’s direct equity stake is 16 percent, and local Community Development Committees help guide where mine-funded projects get built.
Why does a 15-year licence matter for a mine like North Mara?
North Mara produced 249,000 attributable ounces of gold last year, though output ran lighter in the first half of 2026 at 68,000 ounces, down from 129,000 ounces a year earlier. Barrick’s full-year guidance calls for 200,000 to 230,000 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,520 to $1,680 per ounce. Behind that production sits a reserve base of 43 million tonnes grading 2.32 grams per tonne, good for 3.2 million ounces of proven and probable reserves as of the end of 2025. A licence term that stretches to the early 2040s gives Barrick and its Tanzanian partners a planning horizon long enough to justify further investment in a mine that still has a meaningful reserve life ahead of it. Tarime district commissioner Maj. Edward Gowele put it plainly: relations at the mine have strengthened since Barrick took over, and residents increasingly see it as a community partner.
How does this connect to Barrick’s Nevada operations?
North Mara sits on the other side of the planet from Mining Our Future’s home turf, but Barrick is not a stranger to American mining. Barrick operates Nevada Gold Mines, the joint venture it runs with Newmont on the Carlin Trend, the most productive gold trend in the Western Hemisphere. Our Nevada state report covers how that complex became the largest gold-mining operation on Earth. A secure, long-dated licence at a reliable overseas producer like North Mara strengthens the balance sheet and cash flow behind the same company that keeps America’s biggest gold complex running, even when the headline news happens an ocean away.
What comes next for Twiga Minerals?
With the licence question settled for the next decade and a half, Barrick’s near-term focus at North Mara shifts back to execution: closing the gap on first-half production, holding costs inside guidance, and continuing the local procurement and hiring practices that earned it recognition from Tanzania’s government in 2025, including awards for top dividend payer and highest government revenue contributor. Seb Bock, chief executive of Barrick’s Rest of World business, called the renewal an important milestone for North Mara and for the company’s partnership with Tanzania, a partnership this renewal locks in for years to come.