Titanium Mine License Eludes Canadian Firm in Kenya

By Jennifer Wanjiru

NAIROBI, Kenya, March 26, 2003 (ENS) - The mining of the world's largest titanium fields on the east African coast of Kenya appears to have hit another snag after the country's new government announced that it is planning to conduct a public forum to discuss whether Tiomin Resources Inc., a Canadian mining firm, should be licensed to start mining the mineral in Kenya.

The world renowned environmentalist Professor Wangari Maathai, who is the assistant environment minister in the government of President Mwai Kibaki, said that "the government is still hesitant" to license the company "as there are environmental concerns which have not been sorted out."

The move is likely to put the mining of the titanium at bay until the forum, which observers here say will attract experts, decides on the way forward.

Environment Minister of Kenya Newton Kulundu (Photo courtesy IISD)

Some researchers have voiced concern over the levels of radioactive uranium and thorium in the titanium laden Kwale sands, saying they would pose a health risk. They also contend that the marine life at nearby Shimoni beach will be destroyed and that the mining facility will be a danger to the coral reefs.

“If a deposit has uranium, we have to be very careful,” says Dr. Wellington Wamicha, a German trained Kenyan mineralogist who led a Kenyatta University assessment study of the sites the company wants to mine.

“The only reason the Kwale residents are currently not being affected by radiation is because thorium and uranium, the radioactive emitters present in zircon deposits, are in their thermodynamic stable state,” Dr. Wamicha explains. But mining - through attrition and processing the ore by subjecting it to hot sulfuric acid - will release the radioactive elements into the environment, he says.

These are some of the issues the new National Rainbow Coalition government, in power since December 30, says should be addressed.

Experts say that Tiomin Kenya Ltd, a subsidiary of Canadian mining giant Tiomin Resources Inc., will find it hard to convince the new government to issue it a mining license in the face of the populist mood prevailing in the country which saw the ouster of the corrupt government of Daniel arap Moi and of his Kenya African National Union party after they had been in power since independence from Great Britain in 1963.

Tiomin test site (Photo courtesy Environment Liaison Centre International, Office for Africa )

Rutile and ilmenite are both sources of titanium dioxide, primarily used in the production of pigments for paints, plastics and paper, while zircon is used in the fabrication of ceramic and enamel glazing, refractories and electronic equipment.

The government has also told Tiomin that the compensation and annual rent it had promised to offer residents were inadequate. The titanium saga also involves compensation for Kwale residents who would be evacuated once the project starts. Initially, Tiomin had offered about $114 per acre, later upping that to $505.

Residents and anti-project lobby groups argue that the payment is too low, based merely on the value of the soil and existing development, not the rich deposits beneath.

"By involving the public to table their views, the government will be able to asses the issues at stake," said Maathai, who has been a key critic of the Tiomin feasibility study.

This could be the reason her ministry announced that an independent team will carry another environmental impact assessment "to assess the dangers the mining might pose to the ecosystem."

A previous environmental assessment report presented by the mining firm to the previous government had received much criticism with stakeholders dismissing it as shoddy.

Wangari Maathai, Kenya's Assistant Environment Minister was professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Nairobi and has never before been in Parliament. (Photo courtesy Liberal Party)

A second study led by Dr. Wamicha of Kenyatta University raised key queries raised on the level of radioactivity and presence of sulfur during the mining.

Initially Tiomin scorned the Kenyatta University led environmental impact assessment (EIA) report.The firm's vice president, Mathew Edler, then said, “Kenya lacks environmental consultants who have the necessary experience to manage the EIA for the Kwale project. Placing the EIA title on its cover does not make it credible,” triggering an uproar from the same people now in government.

The Tiomin saga drama started in 1995, when the Canadian company struck what are now recognized to be the biggest unexploited titanium deposits in the world. These include five titanium rich sites with 650 million tons at Mambrui and 1.2 billion tons at Sokoke. The are unknown quantities at Sabaki, Mombasa, and Kwale along the Kenyan coast.

Residents of the coastal region where the company wants hold a public meeting to address environmental and land compensation concerns. (Photo courtesy Tiomin Kenya)

As controversy rages, Kenya's new government is caught between pleasing the company and remaining accountable to the citizens who placed it in power with a landslide majority. The standoff was expected since the titanium mining was widely viewed as one of the development projects Moi associates wanted to exploit to make their fortunes.

That and other unresolved issues will have to be reconciled against Tiomin's claim that it is out for a clean business. But there will be a tough battle over when the mining license will be issued. Already, a lawyer has gone to court and blocked the government from issuing the license.