19 December 2006
Tiomin mining company is set to resume preparations for titanium extraction in an African Development Bank (AfDB)-financed project.
The Government of Kenya today ruled against seven farmers in Kwale District who rejected a resettlement compensation package offered by Canada-based Tiomin mining company.
The farmers initiated the legal proceedings, arguing that “the Government does not have the constitutional power to order the compulsory acquisition of their land” in the lucrative Kwale Titanium Project in coastal Kenya.
The decision paves the way for the company to exploit the mineral-rich soil, estimated to contain over 117 million tons of minerals used to create titanium. The ruling comes only days after Tiomin threatened to pull out of the project.
Tiomin’s stock took a dive last week after the company announced that the project’s development schedule and budget would not be met because it could not access the project site. The project’s senior lenders stated that they would not disburse funds until all legal matters were resolved.
Controversy surrounding the Tiomin project has been ongoing since the project was conceived. Environmental groups have objected to the project, citing the threat to a host of endangered species in the Kwale area, which depend on the coast’s already fragile ecosystem.
A Global Response briefing on the project charges that the Kenyan government negotiated a deal with Tiomin even “before an independent Environmental Impact Study was completed and without the consent of the affected population - around 5,000 people at the Kwale site alone.”
According to the briefing, Tiomin announced that it would “rehabilitate” the site after the 20-year life of the project and resettle families back to the area, despite warnings from scientists that radioactive uranium was found in the titanium deposits.
In July, the African Development Bank approved a $40 million loan for the project. The most recent controversy over the farmers’ court case comes amid speculation that the Kwale project could become the subject of the first claim under the AfDB’s new Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) – a function akin to the World Bank Inspection Panel, through which affected communities can appeal when AfDB “safeguard” policies have been violated.
Additional resources
-
Tiomin to mine in Kwale by Vincent Lempaa, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, December 19, 2006 (KBC website)
-
Tiomin's Kenyan project delayed, stock melts, Reuters, December 12, 2006 (Reuters website)
-
Lands Act is invoked to kick out farmers by Patrick Beja, East African Standard, November 29, 2006 (EA Standard website)
-
African Development Bank's Independent Review Mechanism (AfDB website)
-
Stop irresponsible mining on tropical coast, Kenya, a briefing from Global Response (Global Response website)
-
Additional resources from Probe International (Probe International website)