- Ahmed Salaa of Stones of Wealth Limited said that he will do mining using modern technology that do not require to displace families from their homes.
- Salaa said his company only requires land equivalent of one acre, whether sold to or leased to for establishment of the factory and a breather.
Image: HILTON OTENYO
An investor in gold mining in Kakamega has said he will not displace any family to extract the mineral.
Ahmed Salaa of Stones of Wealth Limited said he will do mining using modern technology that does not require to displace families from their homes.
“I am hearing people talking about displacement to pave way for extraction of the mineral, modern methods do not interfere with settlements. You mine as people go about their businesses,” he said.
Salaa said his company only requires land equivalent to one acre, whether sold to or leased, for establishment of the factory and a breather.
He said the company is in the process if establishing a Sh1 billion gold factory in Kakamega, adding that the factory will employ to over 3,000 people once it is operational.
“We are going to open Kenya's largest gold mining factory within the year and will create the much needed jobs,” Salaa said.
He said his company will give the community 20 per cent in monetary and development terms.
Salaa said the gold mined will be processed in Bushiangala in Ikolomani constituency.
Addressing residents on Thursday during a tour of Ikolomani, one of the constituencies where gold mining is taking place, Kakamega governor Fernandes Barasa said his administration will not allow any investor to displace families to mine gold.
Barasa said any investor interested in gold mining in Kakamega will first have to declare the communities’ benefit before being allowed to operate.
Senator Boni Khalwale has also declared that no investor will be allowed to displace people. He said gold mining started in Kakamega in 1932 but no family was displaced.
Salaa is currently running an initiative to make shaft mining safer in Kakamega by giving artisanal miners equipment and resources to improve their trade.
Shaft mining is the most common method of mining in Kakamega but has been linked to many deaths.
There are more than 15,000 small-scale and artisanal miners in Kakamega county alone. Ikolomani subcounty has 250 shafts of the total 300 in the county.
Under the arrangement, Salaa meets the cost of equipment and construction then takes 75 per cent of the proceeds and leaves the miners with 25 per cent.
The tailings from the mines are given to women for free to extract remnant minerals.
The women do not go down the shafts like their male counterparts.
Salaa has so far constructed four shafts in Rosterman, where youths work in three or four shifts per day.
One of the shafts is for miners aged 60 and above and the proceeds are shared on a 50-50 basis.
“The President has said he wants youths to get jobs and that is what we are doing here. We have employed more than 1,000 youths," he said.
The Mining Act 2016, provides for sharing of royalties from gold mining on a 70, 20 and 10 per cent basis among the national government, county government and communities.
National vice chairman of the Artisanal and Small-scale Miners Association of Kenya Patrick Ligami said the provision helps everyone, including, miners and the community to benefit from the minerals.