The Controversy

World Economic Justice Walk

Ottawa - Toronto

Sept 1 to 12, 2006

The Controversy

It is now a decade since Toronto-based Tiomin Resources Inc. (listed as TIO) discovered the world’s largest unexploited titanium reserves along the coast of Kenya [Mineral Obsession: Inside The Canadian push to make a killing on Kenya’s titanium – Toward Freedom, Online Magazine, June / July 2001].

Prior to the 2002 General Elections, then presidential-candidate Mwai Kibaki promised, along with a new constitution that;

“NARC will…take measures to improve and sustain economic fundamentals…and an investment climate that will translate into rapid economic growth and employment opportunities for Kenyans. For every investment proposal, NARC will ask one fundamental question: How many jobs will it create?” [How Kenyans can get back on track (27th November 2002), http://www.nationaudio.com/elections/platf...atform12711.htm].

After the elections, MiningWatch Canada optimistically reported as follows:

New Kenyan Government Holds Tiomin to Account – Tuesday June 3, 2003.

The new government in Kenya is treating the Kwale titanium project with healthy suspicion.

In early March, the Kenyan High Court restrained the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) from issuing an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) licence to Tiomin Resources Inc. of Canada for its titanium mining project, pursuant to section 63 of the Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act. The order remains in force until NEMA complies with section 59 of the Act which provides for public review of the Environmental Management Plan (EMP).

Mr. Justice Andrew Hayanga issued the order based on a civil case filed by the Centre for Environmental Legal Research and Education (CREEL).

On April 10, 2003, Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources Hon. Prof. Wangari Maathai – former chairperson of the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya – met with mine opponents, including the Coast Mining Rights Forum. This was the first meeting of its kind, indeed of any kind, between members of civil society and the Government over the issue of titanium mining in Kwale. According to Kenyan sources, “the mood during the meeting was upbeat and for the first time, we were able to explore the issues surrounding the titanium mining, highlighting what went wrong and what needs to be done.”

All the issues that the Coast Mining Rights Forum have been raising about the mine – groundwater exploitation, the development of a shipping facility at Shimoni, economic benefits, compensation and resettlement, and rehabilitation and radiation control – were addressed. The Coast Mining Rights Forum also learned that Tiomin intends to dredge the Wasini channel, which it had previously denied. This would be necessitated by the weight of the ore to be exported.

Tiomin has not received an Environmental Impact Assessment licence. What it has received is an approval letter of its EIA, issued by the former Director General of NEMA. This situation is a result of the failure of the former Moi government to promulgate the guidelines and regulations for EIA. The Commissioner of Mines and Geology cannot therefore issue a special mining lease until Tiomin presents an EIA License issued under the not-yet existent Guidelines. The Guidelines are supposed to be gazetted and possibly debated.

As well, the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) presented by Tiomin and approved by NEMA late last year was incomplete. The EMP is part of an EIA process; what was presented was merely an EMP Report. It did not include a comprehensive action plan specifying costs, time and responsible persons for the mitigation of identified impacts. A complete EMP must be submitted prior to approval of the mining lease. The EMP would then be subjected to public scrutiny.

The government early this year sent a fact finding team headed by Prof. Wangari to visit a titanium mine in South Africa to study the activity's effect on the environment. The team was to visit the Richard’s Bay mining area, and arrangements were made to meet NGOs in South Africa who have been challenging the titanium issue there. Environment Minister Kulundu said the government wanted the ore processed in Kenya and not exported raw as had been envisaged by Tiomin. The government has also indicated that the compensation offered to relocate farmers was completely inadequate.

Two public forums will be organised to develop consensus on the issues after the team reports.

http://www.miningwatch.ca/index.php?/Newsletter_12/New_Kenyan_Governmen]

About one year later…

In a revealing interview featuring Nobel Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai, the East African Standard reported that “according to the plan, the delegation was to compile and present…findings to the government, and these were to form the basis for a decision on whether to license the company or not. The findings were to be discussed before a national consultative forum. But…just days after the trip, the government announced…that it had issued Tiomin with a mining permit. Curiously, the announcement came the same day a national forum had been organized to discuss the delegation’s findings. Everyone was taken aback, with most questioning the logic behind sending a high powered delegation to South Africa in the first place” [East Africa hails Wangari Maathai’s Peace Prize – East African Standard, 11th October 2004].

N.B: To date, Tiomin has not produced the Environment Impact Action Plan (EIAP) that is required to support the aforementioned Environmental Management Plan (EMP). The company has therefore violated the Environment & Co-ordination Act 1999 (EMCA 99). Pursuant to this, officials at the office of the Registrar of Companies were unable to ‘trace the file’ belonging to Tiomin Kenya Ltd., while the company’s directors remain unknown. There are also civil cases pending in the High Court with injunctions in place, and it basically appears that both Tiomin and the Government have blatantly violated the law by going ahead with the project. [Source: Environment Trust Of Kenya].