State gazettes 29 county artisanal mining committees

At least 29 county artisanal mining committees have been gazetted to help promote mining in ongoing reforms, Kenya Chamber of Mines (KCM) has said.

KCM senior officials said they are working with the county and the national governments to reform the mining sector to curb smuggling and illegal mining in Kenya.

KCM said Monday that the mining sector can immensely contribute to the socio-economic status of miners and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that currently stands at one percent.

"The government has so far gazetted a total of 29 artisanal mining committees in potential mining areas except for Migori county. Soon we will have a total of 30 artisanal mining committees once Migori county is gazetted to help promote mining activities for Kenya's economic growth," said KCM national chairman Patrick Kanyoro.

Dr Kanyoro announced that 130 mining dealer licenses are ready for collection.

"The introduction of the County Artisanal Mining Committees (AMCs) is a long-term reform strategy to enhance inter-governmental collaborations in the mining sector and curb the prevalence of illegal mining operations in Kenya," he told miners.

According to the Mining Act, the committees will play a pivotal role in advising and offering guidance to the representatives of the Director of Mines on granting, renewing and revoking artisanal miner's permits.

Addressing artisanal miners in Voi town, Taita Taveta county, Kanyoro said the mining committees will review the mining investors' applications for consideration by the government.

Members of the committees are drawn from the county government, National Environment Management Authority (Nema), mining department, artisanal miners and security agencies amongst others.

"The committees will give priority to applications from artisanal miners' marketing cooperatives besides bringing sanity. Order and transparency in the mining sector," he said.

"The committees will be the guardians at the county level and will also ensure that mining operations have complied with the law," he added.

The establishment of the committees comes at a time cartels continue to control the mining industry in the county rich in mineral resources in Kenya but remains one of the poorest when it comes to actual economic potential.

According to the records from the Ministry of Mining, the county has a variety of mineral resources whose potential is enormous, if extracted properly and utilised for the benefit of the residents.

Records also show that 80 per cent of the mining consents are owned by few powerful individuals and foreign buyers such as Sri Lankans who dictate gemstone prices.

Pastor David Zowe, the chairman of the atrial miners said there are instances where consents have been given in Nairobi, and people come with documents claiming they are the legal owners of certain tracts of land, mining claims or mining locations in the region.

"Prospecting is different from mining. Those who engage in mining should have the proper documents," he said.

Pastor Zowe said involvement of county government and members of local mining communities in the licensing process will strengthen compliance in the sector.

He said that the counties and the national government had stakes in the mining sector owing to the potential of increased revenue.

The county is situated within the Mozambique Belt, which is one of the key geological features of Africa. The county has gemstones, such as Tsavorites (green garnets), red garnets, ruby, blue sapphire, pink sapphire, green tourmalines, yellow tourmalines, rhodolites and kyanites.

The Tsavo region, which forms a large part of the county, is the main gemstone mining area and small scale mining operations are located.