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Elijah Mwangi, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Mines, said large tracts of land in Kwale County that were initially leased to Base Titanium Limited have yet to be re-leased to other investors.
To calm the concerns of locals, Mwangi said the ministry would conduct a public engagement exercise to allow residents to provide input on how the land should be used.
Base Titanium, having concluded its operations in Kwale, will return the land before winding up operations in December this year.
Mr Mwangi said it made no economic sense for other investors to apply for licences to mine there as the mineral resources were already depleted. He spoke at a briefing on the land use modalities ahead of a public engagement exercise in Kinnondo village in Msamweni county.
“My office has not received any application or expression of interest from anyone for the Base Titanium land. We are here to discuss with the community what we should do with the land after the company ceases operations,” he said.
There has been widespread speculation in Kwale County over the past few months that a mysterious foreign investor has purchased thousands of acres of land.
The speculations triggered an outcry from community organisations and other public interest groups, who threatened to hold demonstrations to protest against this illegal land allotment.
Base Titanium is set to exit mining operations in December ahead of the expiry of its special mining licence in June 2025, raising interest in the fate of the company’s assets worth billions of shillings, which include land, vehicles, water systems, boreholes and water pans.
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