Mining Cabinet Secretary Dan Kazungu says the new Mining Act has stipulated guidelines that will uphold transparency and weed out corruption in the sector/CFM NEWS
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 28 – Kenya has promised investors in the mining sector accountability and transparency as they seek to do business in the country.
Mining Cabinet Secretary Dan Kazungu says the new Mining Act has stipulated guidelines that will uphold transparency and weed out corruption in the sector.
“Going forward new mining licenses will be made online, you do not have to come to our offices, we are expected to talk to investors 30 days after they make their applications,” he said during the ongoing Kenya Mining Forum.
The forum is set to sell Kenya as the most attractive investment in the mining sector.
Over 40 mining companies from different parts of Africa have attended the forum that will have about 200 participants.
He urged investors to take advantage of the sector terming it as a greenfield.
“For example only 4 per cent of gold reef has been explored leaving 96 per cent potential, the proposed airborne survey on the potential of the minerals in Kenya is underway, we are expecting to get a contractor by December who will map out all areas throughout the country,” he told investors on the first day of the forum.
He says that Kenya is in talks with Africa Development Bank to have the country be the Africa mining policy mineral training centre.
This is part of the plans set to make Kenya mining hub for Africa.
Kazungu says the ministry is also doing a study on how to make Kenya Africa’s hub for mineral trading.
“Other things important to us include revenue sharing, mining must benefit Kenyans, I am glad the new law has already dealt with that,” he observed.
According to Kazungu, the sector has been divided in different aspects that include artistry miners, small to medium scale miners, large scale miners, exploratory sector, precious mineral sector as well as mining services sector that will drive it to fruition.
Currently mining contributes to about 1 per cent of GDP but Kazungu hopes to raise this to 10 per cent by 2030.
