Suffering at the hands of brokers, artisanal miners call for help

The artisanal and small-scale miners in Taita Taveta county have expressed their displeasure with the delayed operationalisation of the Voi Gemstone Value Addition Centre.

The delay, they said, has caused suffering due to infiltration of the industry by unscrupulous buyers.

The miners said they have continued to suffer in the hands of brokers, who buy their minerals at the mines at throw-away prices.

The small-scale miners who mostly dominate many parts of the mining zones are the biggest target of brokers.

Approximately 10,000 people are involved in mining activities in the mineral-rich county.

"It is sad that artisanal and small-scale miners are making little from the venture while brokers are getting the biggest share. There is need for government intervention to rescue the situation," Mohammed Mdzomba, a miner, told the Star in an interview.

Mdzomba said the mining sector in the county has been dominated by unscrupulous local and foreign brokers who have been exploiting artisanal miners.

He said the existence of brokers and middlemen has made the mineral market unstable thus forcing miners to sell their precious stones at low prices.

"We are appealing to the government to officially open the gemstone centre so that our stone can be appreciated. The centre will help keep brokers at bay," he added.

Elijah Kimbio, a miner at Mkuki mines in Mwatate lamented that hundreds of miners in the county languish in poverty despite sitting on tons of gemstones.

The region is endowed with precious minerals including Tsavorite, ruby, chrome tourmaline, yellow tourmaline, red garnets, green garnets and Tanzanite.

Others are manganese, iron ore, marble and limestone.

However, Kimbio said, lack of government support to small scale miners has caused them losses.

He called for speedy operationalisation of the gem centre to open up the mineral market and help residents reap from the lucrative extractive industry.

"Artisanal miners will get good returns once they start selling their gemstones through the centre. Unfortunately it has remained under utilised," he added.

Construction of the Sh60 million gem centre started in 2015 and ended in 2017, but there has been little progress in the processing of gemstones since then.

It is the only facility in Kenya where value addition of minerals is to take place before miners sell their products.

The facility was earmarked for commissioning by President William Ruto in February this year but it was postponed to a later date.

The facility was meant to legitimise the trade in gemstones and curb smuggling of the precious stones from the mining areas which makes the government lose revenue.

The government targets to generate some Sh3 billion annually as revenue from value-addition to gemstones at the centre set for export from the country.

Currently, many middle-men are mostly exporting uncut minerals to Middle East countries without paying taxes leading to loss of revenue.