Kenya’s earnings from minerals fall Sh1.5bn on Covid

Earnings from mineral sales drop by Sh1.5billion last year due to Covid-19-related disturbances in the supply chain, data in the newly published Economic Survey 2021 shows.

The country realised Sh22.7 billion from mineral sales last year, down from Sh24.2 billion the previous year.

"Most of the major minerals recorded a decline in 2020," the survey said.

"The decline is attributed to decrease in demand for minerals in the international market due to Covid-19 pandemic," it added.

Local miners slowed down their operations at the height of the pandemic.

Covid-19 restrictions also hurt companies’ ability to export their minerals and access essential supplies.

According to the survey, the mining sector accounted for around 0.7 percent of Kenya's gross domestic product in 2020, same as 2019 with titanium as the country's main export revenue earner.

Workers employed in the country's mines and quarries fell 9.9 percent to 13,700 as mines shut down and sent workers home.

Investor appetite for new frontier markets has revived interest in Kenya’s mining potential, although few foreign companies have invested significant sums in its mines.

Kenya has proven deposits of titanium, gold, and coal and is also understood to hold significant deposits of copper, niobium, manganese, and rare earth minerals.

The Kenyan Mineral Rights Board chairman Stephen Kuria said earlier that Kenya's untapped mineral sector has the potential of earning the country $6.6 billion (Sh719.4 billion) or 12 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) from the minerals sector.

The sector currently contributes less than one percent to the GDP.

A nationwide aerial survey to map Kenya’s mineral deposits tipped to act as a catalyst for foreign investment was slated to be complete in June.

Petroleum and Mining PS Andrew Kamau said data from the survey would make it easier to attract investors to a sector that has been neglected by successive governments.