- "During the Cabinet meeting, mineral smuggling was declared an economic crime."
- The government in December 2019 issued a moratorium on the issuance of licenses across the country.
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The government has lifted a ban placed on the issuance of prospecting and mining licenses across the country.
Addressing a press conference at his office on Wednesday, Mining Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya said the decision was arrived at during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
"I have already met senior staff at the ministry and we have discussed how we will begin issuance of new licenses," the CS stated.
Mvurya further said the Cabinet approved the establishment of a special police unit within the ministry to enforce compliance with laws and regulations on mining.
"During the Cabinet meeting, mineral smuggling was declared an economic crime," the CS added.
The government in December 2019 issued a moratorium on the issuance of licenses across the country.
The move was to pave the way for a survey that was aimed at establishing the types of minerals in the country and their geographical location.
The government developed an official register showing details of ownership, boundaries, and value of real property or minerals in a region.
Kenya has not renewed existing licenses since 2015 when at least 65 companies had their permits revoked.
Those operational have been running under a gazette notice, with licensees whose permits expired forced to seek special clearance from the ministry.
Mvurya further said the government unearthed 3,000 illegal mining operations across the country.
"We have directed them to stop the activities until they comply with the law. We will enforce the directive through our offices across the country," he stated.
The CS further noted that the ministry audited all mining rights and licenses during the period. He said a total of 1,546 licenses do not meet the set conditions and will be declared inactive in due course.
He announced that Sh2.9 billion will be given to various counties as their rightful share of earnings from the mining sector in the 2023/2024 Financial Year.
"We will soon declare the 10 per cent share of earnings to the communities," he added.
He noted that the nationwide geo survey established 970 mineral occurrences across the country.
The latest development gives hope to companies such as Base Titanium which is keen to explore and possibly expand its operations in Kenya.
Base, which commenced mining titanium ores in the country in 2013, with the first shipment in February 2014, is keen to further expand its operations having applied for three prospecting licenses.
Its last prospecting license was on an area covering 136 square kilometres in Vanga area, towards the Kenya-Tanzania border of Lunga Lunga, which was approved by the Mineral Rights Board and issued in December 2018.
Last year, the country’s total value of minerals produced increased by 33 per cent from Sh22.7 billion in 2020, to Sh30.2 billion.
“This is attributed to a 31.5 per cent increase in the value of the titanium ore minerals from Sh19.5 billion to Sh25.6 billion in 2021,” Kenya National Bureau of Statistics says in its Economic Survey 2022.
The minerals played a role in the country’s total value of export earnings, which improved from Sh643.7 billion in 2020 to Sh743.7 billion in 2021, translating to a 15.5 per cent increase.