Artisanal miners have urged Mining and Blue Economy CS Hassan Joho to prioritise operationalisation of county artisanal mining committees.
The Artisanal and Small Scale Miners Association vice chairman Patrick Ligami said the committees are unable to operate due to lack of funds.
“This will be the best entry point for him because there’s a lot of talking up there but nothing is happening on the ground,” he said.
The county mining committees are established under section 94 of the Mining Act 2016.
The committees are responsible for advising the representative of director of mines in granting, renewal or revocation of artisanal mining permits.
Ligami said the government has not issued a single mining permit since enactment of the Act.
He urged the government fund regional mining offices and deploy more staff, especially engineers and geologists to serve the sites.
Taita Taveta, Migori, Vihiga, Kakamega, Siaya, Turkana, Narok, Kitui, Uasin Gushu, Busia, Kajiado, Machakos and Kilifi are gazetted mining counties.
There are more than 15,000 small scale and artisanal gold miners in Kakamega county alone, with more than 300 shafts.
Ikolomani subcounty has 250 shafts.
One shaft is operated by a minimum of eight people and a maximum of 60.
Over 60 per cent of households in Ikolomani depend on gold mining as their main income generating activity.
Ligami said there is need for the government and other non state actors to come up with alternatives to mercury and sodium cyanide that are safe, cost effective and readily available to miners.
Sodium cyanide is used to extract gold from its ores while mercury is used for cleaning the gold. They can also have adverse effects to human beings if not used and disposed well.
“We are hoping that the minister and PS state department of mining will streamline the sector going by their recent pronouncements,” he said.
