Residents of Western Kenya will have to wait another four years before they reap the benefits from the gold mining project in the region.
Hannes Henkel, the head of discovery for Acacia Mining company charged with the exploration, said it is going to take between four and five years before real mining can start.
However, the company has said a substantive amount of gold has been detected and urged residents to be patient as the deposits are verified.
Addressing the press on Friday, Henkel said the company is at the first scoping stage where a decision is made whether or not to proceed to mine.
“Our engineers are on top of things to look into the shape of the ore body and what kind of mines we have to build among other factors,” he said.
Henkel said that planning and building of mines take a long time which may be more than two years and their main challenge is the population density as the process requires a huge area.
Mining PS John Omenge who was on an official visit to Acacia Mining company in Ikolomani Constituency, Kakamega County, said he was impressed with the amount of work the company had managed to do for the time they have been exploring.
“The main objective for this visit is to find out in depth about the progress of the exploration by the company. We are encouraged that they have made great strides but we are optimistic that it will come to pass,” he said.