Taita Taveta University has embarked on an outreach programme aimed at building the capacity of artisanal and small-scale miners across the country.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor in-charge of Academic, Research and Outreach Prof Christine Onyango, said the university is now focusing on building capacity of artisanal miners to improve on their technical as well as financial management skills to maximise their returns.
Speaking during the first outreach programme held in Kakamega town, Prof Onyango noted that the western region is well endowed with gold resources but many artisanal miners are often exploited by middlemen who buy their valuable minerals at throw away prices.
She said it was against this background that her University, boasting of a niche in mining and process engineering, has partnered with other stakeholders to train artisanal and small-scale artisanal miners on management as well as financial skills so that they make good returns from their mining activities through value addition.
“Often artisanal miners sell off their valuable gold to middlemen due to lack of knowledge and do not get value on their returns”, said Prof Onyango.
“Many of the artisanal miners have no skills in management, have no proper knowledge and use crude tools to do mining, leading to disasters,” she said.
Prof Onyango noted the workshop also focused on safety given that gold mining in the country posed potential exposure and health risks that come with the use of mercury.
Mercury is used to separate gold from other materials but poses great danger as it can damage kidneys, impair vision and balance.
She said there is also negative environmental impacts from mining resulting in deforestation and hence having huge impact on climate.
Prof Onyango said the University is also focused on helping the communities mitigate negative environmental impacts and climate change arising from mining.
The three days technical training workshop was organised for artisanal and small-scale miners from Kakamega and Vihiga counties and whose theme is ‘Towards zero fatalities and zero mercury; advancing safety, health and sustainability in artisanal and small-scale mining.
Moses Klay, a representative of artisanal miners and a member of resilience team formed to self-regulate the mining industry, asked financiers to support the miners with customised credit facilities to enable them engage in sustainable mining activities.
He however, called on the National government to fastrack issuance of permit to miners, which is one of the requirements needed to secure credit facilities.
Nominated Member of the Kakamega County Assembly Victorine Shikutwa said the county has addressed the issue of child labour in gold mining and said the gold mining resilience team was keenly monitoring the situation.
Patrick Makhule, the regional chairman of the gold mining resilience team called on investors in the gold industry to ensure they consult the local community before engaging in gold prospecting.
His sentiments were echoed by Niva Mahiva, the chairman of union of cooperatives of gold who complained that local representatives of the artisanal miners were not being consulted by private investors eyeing gold sites in the area.
The training of the artisanal miners comes at a time when the gold industry is facing several challenges ranging from severe environmental degradation, fatalities, inadequate funding, and lack of modern mining equipment, inadequate regulations and animosity amongst warring parties over gold sites.
In Western Kenya, Kakamega and Migori counties are leading in gold mining as well as parts of Vihiga, Narok, Siaya, Nandi and Turkana counties.
By George Kaiga