MINISTRY OF MINERAL RESOURCES
now claiming their space encouraged by the progressive mining law in place . Small and Medium Scale miners are showing increased interest too . Exploration and mining companies are in Kenya carrying out exploration leading to the announcement of what is considered the biggest gold discovery on the continent - 1.3mn ounces of inferred gold along the Liranda corridor in Ikolomani in Western Kenya .
Large-scale mining investments are coming to Kenya for example Base Resources ( Base Titanium ) that is the single largest mining company in the country , Acacia Mining , Gold Plat , Tata ( Magadi soda ), Lafarge limestone project .
WHY HAS IT TAKEN SO LONG , IN YOUR OPINION , FOR KENYA TO REALISE THE ENORMOUS ECONOMIC POTENTIAL OF ITS NATURAL RESOURCES ? It all comes down to leadership and vision . Over the years industry players have been talking about mining opportunities . It takes leadership to transform this , to real worth . This is what formed the vision to grow Kenya ’ s into a medium sized economy . The other reason is socio-economic socialisation as over the years , Kenya was presumed to be an agricultural economy and so little attention was paid to mineral exploitation .
YOUR MINISTRY ’ S WORK , LEGISLATION AND COLLABORATIVE APPROACH HAS BEEN PRAISED BY SOME OF THE MAJOR MINING OPERATIONS IN THE COUNTRY . HOW IMPORTANT IS TO MAINTAIN GOOD RELATIONSHIPS ? As a country , we believe strongly that to create a robust investment environment , relationships are extremely key and not about shortterm gains . Mining projects are by nature long-term and therefore the relationships built should be longterm . This is the natural habit to adopt , not just to please investors but also to create a “ win-win-win-win ” in the sector . This is the only sustainable way ; – win for the investor who takes the risk ( sometimes massive
52 September 2017