Mines are never built by a single company. While Perseus Mining headlines the Nyanzaga story, the actual work is delivered by a complex web of engineers, contractors, and suppliers. These are the hidden builders, firms that pour concrete, erect pylons, deliver mills, drive haul trucks, cook meals in camps, and train local recruits.
For Tanzania, the choice of these builders is not a detail; it is political economy in action. Under the 2017 Mining Act and Local Content Regulations, every new large-scale mine must prove that Tanzanians, not just foreign firms, are central to the construction and operation. Nyanzaga is therefore a test: will the largest contracts flow offshore, leaving local firms with crumbs, or will this project embed Tanzanian contractors into the industrial bloodstream of the mine?
The answer will shape perceptions far beyond Mwanza. For government, contract awards are proof of whether reforms work. For communities, they are barometers of jobs and procurement. For Perseus, they are execution risk and reputation rolled into one. Who builds Nyanzaga is thus as important as what gets built.
The EPCM choice: Lycopodium
The first decisive appointment was the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management (EPCM) contract, awarded in July 2025 to Lycopodium Minerals for A$48 million. For insiders, the choice was unsurprising. Lycopodium authored the project’s feasibility study, has built Perseus’s other mines in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, and is regarded as one of the most reliable African EPCM firms.
EPCM means Lycopodium will not swing the hammers itself but will manage the entire design and build, ordering mills and crushers, supervising civil contractors, coordinating schedules, and commissioning the plant. The continuity is strategic: the engineers who ran the DFS models now shepherd the build, minimising knowledge gaps.
Politically, the award signalled two things. First, that Nyanzaga would not experiment with untested builders, speed and reliability trumped novelty. Second, that Tanzania would need to watch closely: Lycopodium is Australian, its sub-contracting decisions will decide how much Tanzanian capacity is created. The Mining Commission will be auditing not just progress but local content ratios within Lycopodium’s packages.
The mining contract: the looming decision
If the EPCM award was expected, the open-pit mining contract is still the looming decision. Perseus is tendering a package that will cover drilling, blasting, loading, and hauling of ~35–40 million tonnes per year, the single largest operational contract in the mine’s life.
Candidates include global names like African Mining Services (AMS) and Capital Mining, as well as joint ventures with Tanzanian firms. Local bidders will push, but few have the fleet scale or balance sheet to take on such a massive load alone. The likely outcome is a joint model: an international miner carrying technical risk, partnered with Tanzanian firms for workforce and services.
The stakes here are enormous. Whoever wins will employ hundreds of operators and maintain a multimillion-dollar equipment fleet. For Mwanza communities, this contract is where promises of “local jobs” either materialise or evaporate. For the government, it is a political showcase: proof that Tanzanian capacity can share in core mining, not just peripheral services.
For Perseus, the choice is a balancing act: proven performance versus political legitimacy. Awarding to a purely foreign contractor could deliver schedule certainty but invite political criticism. Pairing with Tanzanian partners may slow mobilisation but embeds legitimacy. The tender outcome will signal Nyanzaga’s deeper posture toward local participation.
Equipment and OEMs
Behind the contractors stand the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), the firms that supply mills, crushers, power systems, and labs. At Nyanzaga, major orders are already placed: grinding mills with FLSmidth or Metso, a gyratory crusher from Metso-Outotec, diesel gensets from Caterpillar via Mantrac Tanzania.
These choices lock in technology for decades. They also shape service chains. Each OEM appointment comes with training programs, spares contracts, and regional hubs. The key question is localisation: will spares depots and service technicians be based in Mwanza, or will every repair still require shipping from Johannesburg or Perth?
For Tanzania, OEM presence can mean industrial spillover, workshops, skills, and jobs beyond the mine. For Perseus, it means lower downtime and political goodwill. For communities, it is less visible but no less vital: a crusher delivered on time means first gold on schedule; a broken mill awaiting offshore spares means months of silence and lost local jobs.
Local content obligations
Under Tanzania’s 2017 Mining Act and Local Content Regulations, Nyanzaga is bound by clear thresholds:
- Employment: at least 90% of the workforce must be Tanzanian within five years of operations.
- Suppliers: preference must be given to Tanzanian-owned firms, with strict definitions to avoid “fronting” (foreign companies disguising as local).
- Succession planning: expatriates are permitted only where skills are scarce, and each must have a Tanzanian understudy to eventually assume the role.
- Annual reporting: Sotta Mining Corp. must submit Local Content Plans to the Mining Commission, subject to audit and penalties.
These requirements turn procurement into a political scorecard. Each contract, from haul trucks to catering, will be dissected for Tanzanian value. For Perseus, compliance is not optional, it is a condition of operating. For the government, it is proof that reforms have shifted mining from enclave to ecosystem.
Early wins and community contracts
Some wins are already visible. Civil works for the camp and access roads were awarded to Mwanza-based contractors. Catering, cleaning, and security services have gone to Tanzanian firms. Aggregates for construction are sourced locally, stimulating small quarries.
These may look peripheral compared to EPCM or mining contracts, but politically they matter. They put early cash into local businesses, create visible jobs, and build confidence that Tanzanians are not spectators. For community SMEs, the challenge is capacity: meeting mining standards for safety, quality, and delivery. Perseus has set up a Local Content Officer inside Sotta Mining to bridge gaps, linking local firms with training, mentoring, and JV opportunities.
The risk is scale. Civil works and catering can absorb dozens of local firms; a 40 Mtpa mining contract cannot. This imbalance makes it vital to keep small wins visible, even while large contracts go to international players.
Risks and bottlenecks
Nyanzaga’s contractor ecosystem faces predictable bottlenecks:
- Skills gap: Tanzania has too few heavy equipment operators, geotechnical engineers, and metallurgists. International contractors may fill roles temporarily, but succession is mandated.
- Supplier base: many Tanzanian firms lack the capital or scale to supply at mine level; upfront working capital is a common barrier.
- Fronting risk: foreign companies may partner with nominal local firms to tick boxes, without true Tanzanian benefit. Regulators must police this.
- Inflationary pressure: as multiple mines compete for local goods and services, prices rise, straining smaller firms.
These risks are not fatal but require proactive management: training programs, joint ventures that genuinely transfer skills, and strict audits. For Perseus, failure to manage these bottlenecks could turn “local content” from asset to liability.
Opportunities to build Tanzanian capacity
Yet the risks come with opportunities. Perseus can leave behind more than a pit, it can catalyse an industrial ecosystem.
- Training academies: Nyanzaga can fund operator and trades training that supplies not only its own mine but future Tanzanian projects.
- Joint ventures: structured partnerships between international firms and local contractors can create lasting businesses, not one-off shells.
- OEM localisation: encouraging global suppliers like Metso or Caterpillar to establish spares depots in Mwanza would anchor industrial capacity beyond mining.
- Spillovers: logistics firms, construction companies, and caterers trained to mine standards can diversify into other sectors, ports, infrastructure, energy.
If harnessed, these opportunities make Nyanzaga not only Tanzania’s newest mine but also a skills and supplier incubator.
The industrial ecosystem as legacy
Nyanzaga will be judged by the ounces it produces, but its deeper legacy will be the industrial ecosystem it leaves behind. Mines close; supply chains endure.
If contractors, suppliers, and workers emerge stronger, with new skills, assets, and credibility, then Nyanzaga will be remembered as a mine that built capacity as well as gold. If not, it risks being another enclave operation: wealth extracted, but capacity left undeveloped.
Who builds Nyanzaga, therefore, is not a technical footnote. It is the project’s true political economy. EPCM choices, mining tenders, supplier rosters, and training programs are the scaffolding of Tanzania’s future mining capability. Perseus and the government alike will be judged on whether that scaffolding remains standing long after the last ounce is poured.
