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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Gold mining in Kenya is a tough journey through dust, promise

Opinion

By DJ Bwakali | Apr 06, 2025

**Kevin Mboi at a gold mine site in Ramula, Siaya County.** [File, Standard]

Under the relentless sun of Kehancha, Migori County, the earth tells a story of desperation and hope. On a recent visit, I waded through makeshift mining pits where hundreds of young men, shirts caked in mud, sifted through sediment with sweaty hands.

Each sieve held the promise of a golden speck, a lifeline in a region where formal jobs are as scarce as the precious metal they seek.

These artisanal miners, part of Kenya’s sprawling informal gold economy, embody a sector at a crossroads: a blend of colonial legacy, modern ambition and systemic neglect. Their daily toil entails a cycle of backbreaking labour and toxic risks. It mirrors Kenya’s broader struggle to harness its mineral wealth responsibly.

The roots of this struggle stretch back over a century. Long before British geologists like Albert Kitson ignited the 1930s Kakamega gold rush, local communities had quietly panned rivers for alluvial gold. Colonial exploitation formalized extraction, with ventures like Rosterman Gold Mines in Kakamega extracting 650,000 tonnes of ore between 1935 and 1952. Yet, when the British left, they left behind a fractured industry.

Post-independence efforts, such as Migori’s Kilimapesa Gold Mine launched in 1963, flickered with potential but faltered under bureaucratic inertia and underinvestment. Today, Kenya’s gold production remains modest, yielding 565 kilograms in 2022, a far cry from Tanzania’s 62.5 tonnes or South Africa’s 110 tonnes the same year.

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But beneath Kenya’s modest gold production lies a paradox: vast untapped reserves in regions like the Migori Greenstone Belt, where geologists estimate millions of ounces remain buried, waiting for the touch of modern technology.

Walk through the mining landscapes of Migori or Kakamega, and you’ll witness a stark duality. On one side, industrial projects like Kilimapesa, backed by British firm Caracal Gold, leach gold from ore using carbon-in-leach circuits, while Shanta Gold’s West Kenya Project eyes annual production of 100,000 ounces from high-grade deposits. These ventures, brimming with foreign investment, symbolise Kenya’s aspiration to join Africa’s gold mining elite.

Yet, just kilometres away, from these industrial mines, artisanal miners hammer at unstable tunnels, their only tools pickaxes and mercury, a deadly chemical used to bind gold particles. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a widespread activity across numerous counties in Kenya, including Migori, Kakamega, Vihiga, Narok, Siaya, Turkana, West Pokot, Marsabit, Homa Bay, Kericho, Nandi, and Kisumu. This informal sector provides livelihoods for an estimated 250,000 miners and supports over one million dependents. Despite the small scale of individual operations, the collective output of ASGM is significant, estimated at around 5 metric tons of gold per year, with a value of approximately Sh42.5 billion.

However, informality exacts a steep price: middlemen exploit their labour, paying a fraction of global prices, while mercury poisons rivers and lungs. In 2024, Marsabit and Migori, experienced tragedy when gold mines collapsed killing dozens.

Kenya’s government recognises these dangers. The 2016 Mining Act, a landmark reform, promised transparency and community profit-sharing, while a 2023 licensing reboot aimed to curb smuggling and attract investors.

A National Action Plan to phase out mercury aligns with global treaties, and state-backed initiatives like the National Mining Corporation (NAMICO) seek to modernise the sector. Yet, progress is uneven. In Kehancha, miners shrug when asked about licenses; many haven’t heard of the reforms.

The road ahead demands bold choices. For artisanal miners, formalisation is non-negotiable. It will include a mix of streamlined licensing, fair-trade gold hubs, and strict mercury bans.

Investors, wary of Kenya’s red tape, need guarantees: expedited permits, tax incentives, and infrastructure upgrades like the planned tarmac road through the Migori belt. Global partnerships could accelerate change; Zimbabwe’s adoption of bio-oxidation technology, which cuts pollution from sulphide ores, offers a model for cleaner extraction.

Crucially, Kenya must confront its legacy of resource inequity. The 2016 Act’s promise of revenue-sharing – 10 per cent to communities, 20 per cent to counties – remains largely unrealized, fueling tensions in gold-rich regions.