Description

Mining

Turkana County is Kenya sundisputed mining exploration frontier. With the 2012 confirmed discovery of oil which is now estimated at 600 million barrels, the county now basks in the glory of being a most attractive destination to investors looking for precious and industrial minerals. The county is home to reasonable deposits ofa wide range of minerals and it is now ripe for detailed exploration work. There is fairly good representation of mineral exploration companies with an extremely good representation of Kenyan owned companies. A natural resource mapping exercise conducted by Turkana County government between April and June 2015 was able to establish occurrences of various minerals.

This paves way for local and foreign exploration companies to apply for licenses andset base in Turkana County. The immediate benefits of the exploration work is that this will create jobs and open up opportunities for the local population to supply good and services to the exploration companies. The fruits of such benefits have already been realized with Tullow Oil offering jobs and a market for local goods and services. It is important to note that the more exploration activities that take place at this time is a pointer to future mining undertakings with the associated benefits for employment and wealth creation.

Opportunities

• Enhance capacity for existing artisanal gold miners across the County
• Identification of sites for production of stabilized soil blocks for low cost housing
• Ear marking of areas in the western parts of the county as well as Nakalale ward which are potential sources of dimension stone
• Package and market opportunities for concrete production to support construction
• Organize responsible sand harvesting for the local communities
• Establish production of various commodities with the huge deposits of petrified wood
• Attract local and international companies to explore for gold
• Engage potential cement manufacturers to tap into the limestone and gypsum deposits
• Establish a gemology centre in Lodwar to ensure value addition for gemstones and visibility in the world market for sapphire, garnet, tourmaline and beryl.
• Tap into opportunities for further exploration on uranium to set up nuclear energy
• Investments that will support the locals tap into the construction of the pipeline and railway line by LAPSSET
• Attract exploration companies to focus on the commercial viability of iron ore, copper and manganese.
• Conduct feasibility studies on production of glass for domestic and export markets given the huge deposits of silica.
• Establish the viability of trona for commercial production.
• Setting up a cement factory at the border of Kenya and Uganda