OWN CORRESPONDENT, Nairobi | Thursday
CANADIAN mining firm Tiomin Resources has defended its titanium mining project in Kenya, denying claims it had acted heavy-handedly, paid bribes and covered up the presence of radioactive materials.
Opposition to Tiomin’s $120m project to mine an estimated 12% of the world’s largest deposits of titanium on the southern coast of Kenya has been fierce and spearheaded by international aid agencies such as Action Aid.
The project, located in Kwale, south of Mombasa, is on hold pending final government approval for mining to commence.
“Without redress, the implications of titanium mining, in its current form, remains a time-bomb and will be a test case for the principles of community rights, conservation of natural resources and corporate social responsibility,” Action Aid said in July.
After months of rumbling debate, much of which has focused on an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Tiomin struck back this week by taking out a half-page advertisement in the Daily Nation newspaper.
Tiomin listed under a column headed “common incorrect statement” claims that the firm had forced residents to sign lease agreements, that it had acted in a secretive manner, that politicians have an interest in the project, that bribes were paid and that there are lethal levels of uranium and thorium in the soil to be mined.
According to Tiomin’s “factual position”, “lease agreements were carried out on a willing buyer, willing seller basis,” the company has held over 250 meetings with interested parties; and “no Kenyan individual or company hold a direct or indirect beneficial interest in any of the subsidiary companies” involved in the project.
The firm went on to describe the levels of radioactive materials in the soils to be mined as “extremely low” saying they “do not represent a health risk to the community or employees.”
Tiomin also pointed out that its project will create 1000 direct jobs in the two-year construction phase, 200 jobs in the operational phase, and another 1000 jobs “indirectly in companies providing goods and services.” – AFP