Resources 2012, 1, 3-22; doi:10.3390/resources1010003 OPEN ACCESS resources ISSN 2079-9276 www.mdpi.com/journal/resources Article Calling for Justice in the Goldfields of Tanzania Madoshi H. Makene 1, Jody Emel 2,* and James T. Murphy 2 1 National Environmental Management Council, Regent Estate Plot No. 29/30, P.O. Box 63154, Dar es Salaam 35091, Tanzania; E-Mail:
[email protected] 2 Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, 950 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610, USA; E-Mail:
[email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-508-793-7317; Fax: +1-508-793-8881. Received: 6 November 2012; in revised form: 12 December 2012 / Accepted: 17 December 2012 / Published: 19 December 2012 Abstract: Tanzania is the third largest gold exporter in Africa, thanks in part to the liberalization of the mining sector which started in the early 1990s. Neoliberal mining reforms promised a win-win situation in which government, investors and local host communities would benefit through export earnings, profits, local employment, and corporate social responsibility initiatives (e.g., the building of schools and clinics). While the rising price of gold and foreign investments in mining activities have delivered on some of these promises, many residents in mining regions have not benefited socioeconomically. Worse still, their communities have unjustly borne the brunt of the environmental, social, and public-health costs associated with large-scale mining operations. This paper examines these injustices through research in Geita and Kahama, two of the most active gold mining areas of Tanzania.