HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

A few steps from an archaic, poorly-reinforced goldmine shaft plunging three hundred feet into the abyss, Christene Adongo toils away at her own small repository along Kenya’s Migori gold belt.

Weathered and fatigued by the early afternoon heat, the 52-year-old strikes stones hour after hour with a metal hoe to locate the elusive, glistening gold particles.

Adongo will not be reaping the benefits, however, of the highly lucrative, largely untouched reserves in southwest Kenya’s Nyanza Province. Her repository, her livelihood for the day, is a four-feet in diameter pit on the site of the unlicensed goldmine. With few other options for income, Adongo is targeting $3 in wages after 12 hours of excruciating labour.

Gold Industry, Poised for Significant Expansion

“These are worthless stones. We’re just getting the samples,” says Adongo….

Despite her struggles, she plays a vital role in a Kenyan gold industry that currently employs tens of thousands. Analysts say the industry is poised for significant expansion, and mining companies are jockeying for an opportunity to exploit the wealth. But gold mining in Kenya remains dominated by the informal sector. Miners are subject to abysmal working conditions and environmental degradation is rampant.

“This sector has received minimum attention from the government. The refineries are not regulated,” said Yulius Opiyo, Director of the Lake Region Development Agency, the main organisation dealing with the rights of mine workers in the area. “In other countries, there are laws governing artisanal mining. Here in Kenya we don’t have any.”

Amidst the Gold Rush

The value of gold in the Migori district of Nyanza is estimated to be worth more than $750 million. Gold continues to fetch unprecedentedly high value on the international market and the incentive is high to invest at all levels of Kenyan gold. With ambitious goals of accumulating quick wealth, Kenyans are flocking from across the country to stake a claim.

Many, however, arrive to find only destroyed communities. Like many industries in Kenya where significant amounts of money can be acquired quickly, prostitution and the devastating diseases that accompany it are rampant.

“There’s a lot of money for some in the mining. A man might get 100,000 Kenyan Shillings ($1200) at one time. It may be gone in three days,” said 56-year-old Rosemary Maka, who cooks and brings water to the miners at Adongo’s plot, with hopes of playing a role as an intermediary seller of gold to the refineries in town. “It all goes to the women. HIV is the most here…very high.”

Sexually-transmitted Diseases in Migori Mining Communities Constitute an Epidemic

Local medical officials confirm that sexually-transmitted diseases in Migori mining communities constitute an epidemic. The HIV rate in Nyanza province is 14%, more than double Kenya’s national average. Due to poor equipment and lack of government regulations, miners in Migori district also operate in poorly ventilated, infection-prone environments.

“Respiratory Tract Infections (RTI) are so much here,” says Medical Officer of Health at Migori District Hospial Elizabeth Mgamb, adding that tuberculosis is another significant problem. Analysts draw direct connections to these rates and mining conditions. “The data for 2011 shows that RTIs are second only to clinical malaria (in the district).”

These harsh working conditions within informal mines have resulted in casualties. At least 40 people have died in the informal mines in the past year from poisonous gas inhalation, collapsing of mines and suffocation.

Poor Conditions

Children are not spared from the noxious impacts of mining. There are an estimated 15,000 children working in gold mines in Kenya. School dropout rates in Migori rank as some of the highest in the country. When gold is found in local communities, those figures skyrocket.

“The children will not go to school to help their mothers in the mines,” says Nairobi-native Maka. “Education here is very low.”

Considering the vast amounts of money the gold industry generates, there is potential to significantly benefit mining communities. Goldplat, a leading gold producer on the African continent, poured its initial Kenyan gold in January 2012 after the Kenyan government issued its first international gold mine commission. The firm aims to produce 5000 ounces this year, with sights on multiplying that output by ten times during its 21-year lease.

Goldplat’s maiden reserve at Kilimapesa Hill in Lolgorien is located just several hundred feet from the informal site where Adongo and her colleagues toil in their mines. Although access to the Kilimapesa site was restricted, security guard Joseph Kirsido Ndo, a Goldplat employee for over a year, spoke to Think Africa Press and was quick to criticise the company for mistreatment of workers.

“The conditions here are very poor,” said the Masai father of 12, who claimed he was routinely ordered into the mines at no extra pay. “The protective gear is not enough. The miners are only issued gloves. There’s no gear to muzzle the sounds. There are no facemasks for the dust.”

“Whenever the management hears government officials are coming, we are issued all the protective gear…just as a show that the mine is in line with regulations,” he adds.

Local Impacts

Ndo receives a monthly salary of 11,300 Kenyan Shillings ($136), a substantially higher amount than many in the informal sector. He claims, however, that Goldplat does not honour social security and health insurance obligations and is prone to firing employees injured on the job. Local Goldplat officials declined to comment. But NGO workers in the region attest to the harmful impact international companies bring to communities in Nyanza.

“If artisanal mining is improved and the right materials are provided, the sector will grow,” says Lake Development Agency’s Opiyo. “But I don’t buy the notion of bringing in multinationals. They are driven primary by profits and the wellbeing of the locals becomes secondary.”

Despite the inaugural commission, Opiyo claims international gold companies have unlawfully operated in Nyanza in the past. Among other unethical practices, Opiyo claims those companies severely degraded the environment.

“I’ve seen it happen before. Foreign companies come and then they leave the area in a terrible condition,” says Opiyo. “The environmental impact, as far as mining is concerned, is quite poor both for artisanal mining and major companies. The government has not done its bit. I’m not seeing progress when it comes to looking at the impacts of mining on the environment.”

Toxic Contamination

Those impacts include toxic contamination of local water sources by poor disposal practices and desertification of surrounding areas. Opiyo says greater governmental regulations could steer the industry in the right direction, benefitting all parties involved.

“The current system is not helping the local people or the government,” he argues. “A lot of the gold is smuggled out of the country. It could be a source of revenue if it is prioritised. And it could be a significant source of livelihood.”

Ministry of Environmental and Mineral Resources and District Commissioner officials also refused to comment. For the immediate future, it seems as though the potential for gold to improve the impoverished lives of those in the industry will continue to prove elusive.

“The company (Goldplat) is the only beneficiary here,” says Ndo. “The company gets millions. But we’re desperate. We have to come back every day.”

Brian Dabbs is a journalist based in Nairobi. He has written for The Atlantic, World Politics Review and Al-Masry Al-Youm, among others. Brian covers political and security issues and reports mostly from East Africa and the Middle East. This article was first published on Think Africa Press. Go to Original.

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2012 Human Wrongs Watch