Mpanda District

[1][2] Historically Mpanda District was part of Tabora, but in 1975 it was transferred into the newly created Rukwa Region.

Mpanda owes its origins to the discovery of gold in 1934 by a very determined Belgian geologist and mining engineer called Jean de La Vallee Poussin.

He obtained the concession and after then discovering a commercially viable deposit of lead and zinc, managed to develop the underground mine despite the difficulties of doing so in World War II.

The company, Uruwira Minerals Limited, was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1947 as a source of financing for its contribution to the railway and the pipeline for water to the mine and township of that time.

[4] There are some small mining operations recovering primarily gold, lead and building materials (quarries).