Tharaka Nithi County in central Kenya is set for an economic turnaround following the national government’s move through the Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs to kick-start commercial mining in the region.

The county – especially Tharaka North Sub-County – has for many years been flagged as a mineral-rich area. Copper forms part of targeted national mineral exploitation initiative.

Mining Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho on Monday led officials from his ministry, who included principal secretaries Harry Kimtai (mining) and Betsy Muthoni (blue economy) to a sensitisation and consultative meeting on mineral development. The even viewed as an ‘icebreaker’s to the entire process.

Speaking during the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Joho noted that the entire engagement was revolved around how the mining space in the County could be opened up considering that from the aerial geo-physical survey, there are various minerals in Tharaka Nithi County.

“I report that Tharaka Nithi is one of those places that we are aware of the endowment of minerals yet to be exploited. We want to do this in an open and very transparent manner through engagement,” Joho said.

He said commercial mining in the region will open up the lives of the residents and eventually attract great wealth into the county.

“We are here to engage and enlighten the leadership on the processes so they can disseminate the same downwards to the people. This is just the beginning of our engagement and we will be coming back to do more public engagements so that we tap into the resources endowed here,” Joho said.

He said cooperation between the national and county government will ensure creation of a unique mining model in the county that has never been in any other part of the country.

“If you talk about mining in the country, you cannot miss Tharaka Nithi in the conversation. We cannot allow as a country that people on the southern and northern part of the mining corridor are falling in, are mining and we in the centre are just scratching the surface,” Joho explained.

Governor Muthomi Njuki said the county is an area of interest in today’s mining economy and this necessitated the start of a conversation on how to have an open way of ensuring there is mining that is beneficial to all.

At the moment, he added, mining in the county is not structured, transparent. People owning lands where mining is taking place do not know their rights and even those mining do not declare their activity or proceeds from the same.

“Basically, we have been losing on wealth supposed to be exploited for the benefit of the whole country and even the locals. We have started a conversation where we have briefed the county assembly, executive and the community representatives so we can have a structured engagement on how the ministry can attract investors to start commercial mining that will benefit all of us,” Njuki said.

The governor noted that the current artisanal mode of mining that uses simple and primitive tools can hardly scratch the surface as far as potential mining in the county is concerned.

“If minerals are found 1000 feet or 10 kilometres below the ground, I don’t see anyone who is currently on the mine-field at the moment with technology that can go to that level. This, therefore, means that if we continue this way, the resource will stay there forever and we will be sitting here saying we have minerals in our county but no one will be  benefiting from the same,” Njuki observed.

A technical report on the county’s mineral potential presented by Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai during the engagement indicate that the region has multiple copper mineral occurrence areas, confirmed copper indicators in several locations and associated occurrences of gold and rare earth elements.

The identified copper occurrence areas are Gatue, Kamacabi, Kiamiramba, Kadondo, Kiamarenge, Maragwa, Mpunguni, Kamaguna, Gatunga and Kiorimba. In addition to copper, geological records also show copper with gold, lanthanum (rare earth elements), uranium (thorium systems) and yttrium.

It is usual practice that before any mining can proceed, lawful access to land must be acquired, environmental approvals must be issued and community engagement is mandatory. Mining Act 2026 also recognises community development agreements, compensation where applicable, environmental approvals and benefit sharing.

The potential benefits of responsible mining in the county will benefit residents through shared royalties between the national, county governments and local communities on a 70:20:10 ratio, as well as community development agreements (minimum one per cent of gross sales value) used for local social and development projects.

The government has also assured residents that it will remain committed to responsible, lawful and sustainable mining.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Dickson Mwiti