House team to probe cement maker’s operations

 

Parliament will investigate the operations of Athi River Mining (ARM) Company following complaints of adverse environmental and health effects from its mining activities.

Speaker Justin Muturi directed the committee on Environment and Natural Resources to commence investigations and report to the House within 60 days.
ARM which is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange deals in cement, fertilisers and other industrial minerals production.

Mr Muturi issued the directive following a petition presented to his office by the Human Rights Agenda (HURIA) which was signed by 10 citizens asking MPs to investigate complaints by the communities living around Athi River Mining areas.

“Standing Order 225(2) requires the Speaker to report to the House any petition to the Assembly, other than those presented through a member. I therefore wish to convey to the House that my office has received a petition regarding the environmental hazards posed by Athi River Mining Company Limited,” said the Speaker.




He said the petitioners prayed among other things that the House requires the Ministry of Environment to compel the company to undertake satisfactory measures to mitigate the adverse impacts of its operations on the environment and on the safety and health of the affected residents of Rabai and Kaloleni in the coast.

Petition

“This petition therefore shall stand committed to the departmental team on environment and natural resources for consideration. The committee is requested to consider the petition and report its findings within 60 days.’’

The investigations into the mining activities of ARM come at a time when the country has discovered several minerals.

British explorer, Tullow Oil Plc on Wednesday announced it had surpassed the threshold needed for commercial exploitation of reserves in Turkana.

It estimated that the Turkana exploration basin has in excess of 300 million barrels of oil (mmbo) when it struck up to 50 metres of fresh reserves in Etuko-1. Etuko-1 falls within the same basin as Twiga South-1 and Ngamia-1 wells in which huge reserves of oil were discovered by the company recently. The two wells have potential of producing 250 mmbo.

Ten days ago, Cortec Kenya Mining announced that it had found deposits of rare earth minerals worth $62.4 billion in Kwale County at the coast.

Cortec Kenya said the find, at Mrima Hill, has one of the top five rare earth deposits in the world.

The company said the Hill also has niobium deposits estimated to be worth $35 billion.

The country has also discovered huge deposits of coal in Kitui estimated at over 200 million tonnes.

The country has also discovered other minerals such as gold and rubies whose exploitation is expected to help in the development of the country.