Buzwagi Gold Mine is an open-air gold mine in the Shinyanga region of Tanzania, located 6 kilometers southeast of the city of Kahama. It is operated by Acacia Mining Company.
It is one of three gold mines operated by Acacia Mining in Tanzania, the other two being Bulyanhulu and North Mara Gold Mine. In fiscal year 2014, the company produced a total of 719,000 ounces of gold
Modern day gold mining in Tanzania dates back to the German colonial era, where the discovery of gold began near Lake Victoria in 1894. Work on Tanganyika’s first gold mine, the Sekenki Mine, began in 1909, and gold mining in Tanzania experienced a boom between 1930 and World War II. By 1967, the country’s gold production fell to a negligible level, but it was revived in the mid-1970s, when the price of gold rose again. In the late 1990s, foreign mining companies began investing in the exploration and development of gold deposits in Tanzania, which led to the opening of a number of new mines.
Barrick acquired Buzwagi, along with Tulawaka, as part of its acquisition of Pangea Goldfields Inc. in 2000. The mine, which is the second largest mining operation and the largest open-pit mine in Tanzania, was opened in 2009. The mine was a Buzugai construction and cost about $400 million, and employs more than 3,000 employees. It consists of an open-pit mine, ores processing facilities, a waste rock storage facility, a waste storage facility, as well as a water management and other ancillary facilities. In 2009, Buzwagi employed approximately 1,500 employees. As of 2014, the mine is expected to have 5 years remaining.