Kakamega's miners hold onto a dream deferred

By Roselyne Obala

Steven Shitsukane has been a gold miner in Lirembe sub-location in Kakamega for over 20 years.

For the 38-year old father of four, who has been earning a living from abandoned goldmine sites in Kakamega South District, hope lies in someday finding enough gold to change his life forever.

"I still hope that one day I would get enough deposits that would make me a millionaire," he says.

A South African firm, Afri-Ore, which has been prospecting gold in other regions in western Kenya, has indicated that huge amounts of gold could be found in Lirembe.

But with the firm getting the go-ahead to introduce the latest technology in gold prospecting and mining, local gold diggers are now worried over their fate.

Justus Kakabo and his colleagues said they were apprehensive about the future since learning that the Government had licensed two foreign gold prospecting companies to work in the area.

"Does this mean it is the end of me or am I finally going to get formal employment?" asks Kakabo. At the height of gold mining in the region, which started in the 1930s a foreign company, Rosterman Gold Mines, was incorporated and licensed to mine the precious metal.

New Laws

The company then pitched camp just three kilometres East of Kakamega town where it remained for 17 years until 1952, when mining was halted at the height of the struggle for independence. Foreign prospectors abandoned the mines over fears for their safety.

Currently, individuals and small groups who sell a gram of mineral between Sh1,800 to Sh2,000 mostly do gold mining. Mines and Geology Commissioner Bernard Rop says the Government has drafted new mining laws to attract foreign investors and make mining profitable for local and foreign companies. The Government, Rop said, had granted licences to several foreign companies to resume gold prospecting in the former mines in Rosterman in Kakamega Central, Ikolomani, and Viyalo in the former larger Kakamega District and Macaldar in the Migori District.

In addition, co-operate groups can be formed to acquire capital and modern mining equipment to undertake deep ground mining, which is more profitable than open cast and shaft mining.

"Once mining recommences, it will be the first time in 50 years that there will be large scale gold mining," he says.

The commissioner notes the former gold mines in western Kenya still have substantial alluvial gold, which could benefit the country. Rop says to make prospecting of minerals profitable and attractive to both local and foreign investors, the Government is enacting new laws to replace those crafted by the colonial regime.