Bulyanhulu Gold Mine is an underground gold mine in the Shinyanga Region of Tanzania, located 55 kilometres south of Lake Victoria. It is one of three gold mines owned by Acacia Mining plc, formerly African Barrick Gold plc, a company owned by Barrick Gold, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and operates in Tanzania. Acacia also owns Buzwagi Gold Mine and the North Mara Gold Mine.
Gold mining in Tanzania in modern times dates back to the German colonial period, beginning with gold discoveries near Lake Victoria in 1894. The first gold mine in what was then Tanganyika, the Sekenke Mine, began operation in 1909, and gold mining in Tanzania experienced a boom between 1930 and World War II. By 1967, gold production in the country had dropped to insignificance but was revived in the mid-1970s, when the gold price rose once more. In the late 1990s, foreign mining companies started investing in the exploration and development of gold deposits in Tanzania, leading to the opening of a number of new mines.
Barrick acquired the Bulyanhulu project in 1999 when it purchased Sutton Resources. The mine is located 150 kilometres (93 mi) southwest of the city of Mwanza, a regional center. Bulyanhulu opened in 2001, and was built for a capital cost of US$280 million.[4] Following the opening of Bulyanhulu, Tanzania became the third largest producer of gold in Africa, behind South Africa and Mali.
Bulyanhulu consists of an underground mine, a process plant, waste rock dumps, tailing containment, water management ponds, and associated facilities. As of 2014 there was an expected mine life of over 25 years remaining.When it opened it was Tanzania’s deepest mine.
