Kenya has been losing billions of shillings in minerals because of illegal mining and exploitation by mostly foreign miners who extract minerals and export them in form of sand, the Mining CS has said.
Hassan Joho on Tuesday said 95 per cent of mining is illegal and the ore from which these minerals are extracted usually carry more than a single mineral.
“These miners export these ores in form of sand and only analyse it in foreign lands and pay royalties for a single mineral while in fact they take out many more minerals,” he said.
He spoke in Mombasa after meeting with the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Environment, Forestry and Mining chaired by Nakuru Town East MP David Gikaria.
Joho said Kenya needs proper enforcement programmes, which means more police officers on the ground and more funding.
Proper modern labs are also needed to ensure all exported minerals exported are first thoroughly analysed to get their true value.
The labs will also be used to add value to the minerals to fetch more revenue. “We need new modern labs because when minerals are extracted from the earth, most of the times, it is a mixture of various minerals,” Joho said.
An example is titanium mined along the coastal belt. It comes with several other minerals that are embedded in the mined ore.
“If you mine copper ore and go and analyse it, you may find not only copper but also gold, zinc or silver. As a country we lose because the copper ore miners only pay for the copper and not for the other minerals like gold, zinc or silver, ” the CS said.
He added that he would set in motion regulatory changes to ensure Kenya rightfully earns what it deserves. “When we give you a mining and exporting licence, then we must know exactly what you are mining and what you are exporting,” the CS said.
“This committee had earlier helped us get an enforcement unit, which I feel must now be enhanced.”
Joho said anyone illegally mining Kenya’s minerals and exporting them to other countries without the country getting value for its minerals is sabotaging the economy.
“Minerals get depleted. Like Base Titanium. They have mined for over 10 years and now in the process of closing shop because they have depleted the minerals,” he added.
Joho said there has to be some specific policies or legislation on the issue of value addition. Some entities, he added, are threatening the government with court action to force the country to allow them to export copper ore.
“We are ready to face them in court. We will defend our position,” the CS said. Copper ore has three levels of processes, which include the separation of the minerals.
“If we achieve to create copper concentrates, which is one level, we will get ten-fold the price. So if the price was initially $500 (about Sh64,500 ), it jumps to $5,000 (about Sh645,000 ),” Joho said.
The next level is the copper sheet, which fetches about Sh1.3 million. “How on earth will it be possible for us to continue to encourage export of our copper?” the CS added.
Joho said MPs need to be sensitised on such issues to protect minerals that may be found in their constituencies.
“That is why we may need to change the law. If you mine, when you get out of the mining area, pay the government and the community their dues.”
He cited Taita Taveta, where miners have not been paying the county and the community for the last 10 years. “[They] only paid the other day after I put pressure. That has to stop,” he said.
Joho added that the ministry
needs more funds to implement
its programmes, including the
digitisation of Madini House.