Description

MINING POTENTIAL :

The county mineral potential remains untapped. The following minerals are unexploited : Limestone, Gold and Ruby, Massive limestone deposits were found in Sebit, Ortum, Muino and Alale. There is a proposed cement industry to be established in Sebit to fully exploit the limestone deposits . There is a need for the county government to enter in to partnership PPP, with investors to be able to exploere and tap these natural resourses . Most of these minerals still remain unexploited due to inadequate knowledge of their status, economic viability and appropriate mining technologies. Already , an appropriate mineral prospecting and minning policy is condusive to investment and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in the mining sector is in place. Therefore , opportunities exist in mineral explotation , minning and valiue addition through direct or joint venture partnerships.

LIMESTONE MINING: West Pokot is endowed with substantial limestone deposits. A feasibility study carried out in the early 1980's by Kerio Valley Development and a Canadian firm M/s Lavalin International identified more than 5 million tons of high grade limestone and more that 15 million tons of moderate magnesium limestone. Their processing woiuld translate to 300,000 tons of cement annually. The feasibility study by KVDA and Lavin international showed that Ortum had a reserve of 5.9 million tons of limestone , which would be blended with low grade reserve of between 12 and 17 million tons of the same raw materials at Chepchoi. The linestone deposits would sustain cement crushing plant for more than 50 years, which means through the ministries of Trade, Industry, REgional Developments and department of Mines and Geolplogy have been petitioned to look for an investor to setup a cement factory