Nigerian multinational Dangote Group has expressed interest in prospecting for limestone in Malindi, hoping to make inroads in the country’s cement market.
Mining Cabinet Secretary Dan Kazungu said the multibillion-dollars mining company intends to explore limestone deposits in Kwachocha, Kijiwetanga Kizingo, Mbaraka Chembe
and Mayungu.
Accompanied by Malindi MP Willy Mtengo at the National Government Constituencies Development Fund offices on Thursday, Kazungu told journalists his ministry is processing
a licence to pave the way for the exploration works.
He said the company is ready to send its engineers to begin prospecting for sedimentary rock, one of the two key components required to make cement.
“If they find enough deposits, they could put up the largest cement factory in Kenya,” Kazungu said.
The CS said Malindi has for a long time depended on tourism, whose proceeds have dwindled, and industrial projects will boost the region’s economy and create jobs for youths.
Kazungu said his ministry will set up a regional mining office in Malindi town to serve Kilifi, Tana River and Lamu counties.
Dangote’s entry into Kenya has this year created price wars in the market with low-cost cement imports from its plant in Ethiopia.
The company is importing cement in a short-term market entry plan as it prepares to establish a local plant by 2019.
The firm says cement imports in Kenya are priced at about $74 (Sh7,540 ) per tonne (current exchange rate), which makes the commodity cheaper by up to 40 per cent, compared to locally manufactured brands.
Leading cement firms likely to bear the brunt of Dangote’s entry into Kenya is LafargeHolcim, its flagship brand being Bamburi cement. Meanwhile, CS Kazungu said the ministry is gearing up for the planned aerial geophysical survey on the country’s mineral deposits.
National Treasury CS Henry Rotich allocated Sh3 billion for the first phase of the survey in the 2016-17 financial year.
The survey, Kazungu said, will help identify minerals and their locations across the country.
The country has five mineral blocks in Coast, Eastern, Rift, Western and Northern regions.
Phase one of the survey will cover the Western, Coast and Eastern blocks.
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