Tonnes of mineral for export lie at port as firm awaits licence

A mining company in Kwale County is waiting for government clearance to export the first shipment of ilmenite stocked at the Likoni port.

Base Titanium has said it has 25,000 tonnes of the mineral in store for export but it can not do so as the Mining ministry is yet to approve its request for licence submitted on December 6.

“It has taken longer than expected but we are patient, waiting for a formal communication,” said Mr Simon Wall, the company’s external affairs manager.

“Once sorted, the ship will dock and collect the mineral to the intended destination,” he said.

Mr Wall said sand dunes mined produced  five per cent of the  titanium ore.

At a media briefing in Kilifi, Mining Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala said his office had received the application.

UNRESOLVED ISSUES

Mr Balala said he would meet stakeholders in South Africa before a decision was arrived at on the licence application.

“We shall issue the licence when we address unresolved issues,” he said.

Base Titanium Ltd, a subsidiary of the Australian Base Resources, says it has invested about Sh27 billion to construct infrastructure to process titanium ore from sand dune deposits.

The ore consists of heavy metals that include mineral ilmenite that is used in the manufacture of titanium dioxide pigment for white paints.

Ilmenite with rutile is used for coating electric welding rods.

Zircon, the other mineral extracted from sand dunes, due to its ability to withstand very high temperatures, is made into bricks and cement used in foundries and furnaces for making aluminium and glass.

The company started production last October and the storage depot in Likoni has a capacity of 55,000 tonnes. Its estimates indicate that it is expected to produce 330,000 tonnes of ilmenite a year, about 10 per cent of the global supply.

It expects to produce 80,000 tonnes of rutile per year, 14 per cent of global output, and 30,000 tonnes of zircon.

At the Mukurumudzi plant in Kwale, the Nation established that the Vision 2030 flagship project in the mining sector had completed infrastructure development.

Work to separate minerals from sand concentration was in progress yesterday, with trucks ferrying minerals on the highway to the Likoni port.

100 TONNES PURCHASED

Base Titanium’s first shipment of 100 tonnes of ilmenite has been purchased by DuPont Titanium Technologies, the world’s largest producer of titanium dioxide pigment, according to Mr Wall.

During the firm’s 13-year mining lease, it expects to earn approximately Sh130 billion and the government Sh18 billion in tax and royalties.

Asked why the company had not built  a plant for value addition, Mr Wall  said that would require huge capital and energy investment that was not viable in the 13-year mining duration.

He said former Cabinet minister Ali Chirau Mwakwere cancelled a project owned by Tiomin in Vipingo and Mambrui, Kilifi, because the lease had not reverted to Base Titanium.

ADVERTISED POSITIONS

“We are the custodians of all the documentation of the company, we hold the lease in trust and pay fees annually but our expectation is that these issues will be resolved soon,” he explained.

Last year, leaders alleged that the mining firm had failed to recruit workers to fill advertised positions.

Mr Wall promised to discuss the matter with the investor.