Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The government has lifted a moratorium on mining after putting in place reforms to streamline the mining sector. The lifted moratorium is for all construction and industrial minerals.

The move to lift the moratorium was discussed in the Tuesday cabinet meeting where Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya presented the reforms the ministry has undertaken in order to have the moratorium lifted.

“We made a presentation on the state of mining and the key reforms and the cabinet made a resolution to lift the moratorium on licenses on mining and prospecting licenses,” said Mvurya.

Among the reforms the ministry has undertaken include nationwide geo-survey, identification of 970 minerals countrywide and opening of an online mining portal where miners register to ensure transparency and accountability, he stated.

He added that the government has made value addition to the minerals.

Flanked by Mining Permanent Secretary Elijah Mwangi and Betsy Muthoni of Blue Economy among other top ministry officials, Mvurya also revealed that the audit done by the Ministry on Mmining operations in the country unearthed 3,000 illegal mining operators directing that they will enforce the reforms through the regional offices.

The State also undertook a comprehensive audit of all mineral rights holders to ensure that they adhere to compliance.

“We found out that about 1,500 license holders do not meet the conditions set by the ministry in the issuance of licenses,” noted Mvurya.

As a key priority area in the bottom-up agenda, the CS also announced plans by the government to conduct training for all artisanal miners using crude equipment and organise them into cooperatives and societies.

“Artisanal miners are a key priority in the bottom-up agenda. We are organising them into cooperative societies and as a result, we have organized them to be trained so that there is value to their mining,” said Mvurya.

Artisanal miners

He said the main aim of organising them into cooperatives was informed by the desire of the State to enable the artisanal miners to access training, equipment and financial services.

The government has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia to build a centralized mineral testing laboratory. Currently, testing of all minerals is conducted abroad.

“Currently most of the mineral samples are taken out of the country for testing but this move will stop the smuggling of minerals,” he said.

It was also declared that 20 per cent royalty from the minerals will be shared with respective county governments. The Government has already approved Sh2 billion in the budget for 2023/2024 for counties to receive their rightful share. It was also noted that 10 per cent of revenue from the minerals will go to the respective communities as part of public participation.

Expression of interest

In its bid to promote mining and prospecting across the country, the Government also announced plans to announce calls for expression of interest from national and international mining companies to perform refinery of gold in Kakamega, Vihiga and Siaya counties. Similar calls will also be made for copper in Makueni and Kitui counties.

Specific measures on regional mining places have also been put in place. For instance, the State is set to operationalize the Voi business centre so that the mining of gemstones can be properly organized. 

The State also wants all applicants for mining and prospecting licenses with pending applications in the system to update their records. “All applicants with pending applications in the system should update their records involving bank and registration details,” said Mvurya.

Prospecting regulations

The State has established a new police unit to help in ensuring compliance with mining and prospecting regulations in the country. The unit will be stationed at the Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs.

The new unit will be working closely with the Ministry of interior and Coordination. The creation of the new unit was done by the cabinet on Tuesday after cabinet Secretary for Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs Salim Mvurya presented the state of mining and prospecting in the country to the cabinet. The cabinet also used the meeting to lift the moratorium on mining and prospecting in the country after the cabinet secretary presented reforms the ministry had undertaken to improve the sector during the moratorium.

“We cabinet approved the establishment of a special police unit to ensure there is compliance, “announced Mvurya.

The move by the ministry is meant to sanitise the industry from illegal operators in the industry. The cabinet also took the decision to declare mineral smuggling as an economic crime punishable as per the laws of the country.

The CS announced that the Kenya Kwanza administration will support artisanal miners across the country as mining is an integral part of the regime’s bottom-up agenda. He also announced that his ministry has undertaken reforms to streamline the sector. The reforms include a nationwide geo-survey, identification of 970 minerals countrywide and opening of an online mining portal where miners register to ensure transparency and accountability.