Geita

In the late nineteenth century, German mineral prospecting identified the gold deposits in the region in the late nineteenth century. However, plans for large-scale gold mining was disrupted due the World War I. Tanzania, which was part of the German East Africa colony, was granted to Britain after the Treaty of Versailles. The British developed the mine in 1934, and started a large-scale gold mine in 1936. Until its closure in 1966, the Geita mine was the largest gold mine in eastern Africa. Between 1936 and 1961, the year of Tanzania's colonial independence, artisanal mining in the region was made illegal. Geita regained further prominence in the mid to late 1990s when the Tanzanian government opened the mineral sector to foreign investment. …