Tanzania Ranks 4th in Africa for Mining Investment as World-Class Mineral Potential Outshines Policy Challenges

The Fraser Institute has released its Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2025, revealing that Tanzania has significantly improved its global standing as a premier destination for international mining capital.

In the 2025 global rankings, Tanzania placed 34th out of 68 jurisdictions evaluated worldwide on the Investment Attractiveness Index (IAI), a comprehensive metric used by investors to determine where to allocate exploration capital.

Tanzania’s overall score reached 68.04 in 2025, marking a steady improvement when compared to its scores of 62.75 in 2024 and 46.38 in 2023.

Tanzania’s overall score is determined by this weighted formula, which balances a country’s natural wealth against its government’s business climate. It gives a 60% weight to the mineral potential and a 40% weight to the policy framework.

The first part of the calculation is the Best Practices Mineral Potential Index, which measures the country’s pure geological appeal as if it had the best regulations in the world.

Tanzania is an elite global performer in this category, ranking 15th out of 68 jurisdictions worldwide with a score of 75.00, which confirms that the country’s natural mineral endowment is among the best on the planet.

The second part is the Policy Perception Index (PPI), which acts as a report card on the government’s taxes, legal system, and political stability.

In this area, Tanzania ranks significantly lower at 48th globally, though its policy score of 57.61 is an increase from the previous year’s score of 55.41.

In the African regional context, Tanzania has secured its position as the 4th most attractive jurisdiction for mining investment on the continent, following only Botswana (7th globally), Morocco (15th), and Zambia (25th).

Tanzania successfully outperformed several traditional mining powerhouses in the 2025 rankings, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (50th), Namibia (51st), South Africa (57th), and Ghana (53rd).

To show the full context of the turnaround, the report indicates that Tanzania has risen from a rank of 67th out of 84 jurisdictions in 2021 to 34th out of 68 today.

The Fraser Institute’s annual survey is a primary benchmark used by the mining industry, academia, and media to evaluate the risks and rewards associated with investing in different global jurisdictions.

The 2025 survey reached 2,304 senior executives at exploration and development firms worldwide who reported a combined exploration spending of USD 4.2 billion.