Month: January 2020

It was on Wednesday morning when our Nice View Reporter team visited the Base Titanium Mine which is Kenya’s largest mine. We started our journey at 9:00 am using two cars. We were very excited and this could be proved by the laughing and joking in the car during the ride. We had really waited for this day.

As we reached the gate of the mine area, we were stopped by two guards who gave our driver an alcoblow device for verification. We were also given visitor cards. The guards handed us over to Ms Valentina, the Public Relations Officer, who took us to the Training Centre room and showed us a video about the company. The video gives an overview over the company work and is also found on the internet. After watching we were given our safety gear, which included helmets, reflective vests and goggles.

Open Cast Minings needs corporate social responsibility

Open-cast mining is always associated with significant interventions in nature. According to its own statement, Base Titanium feels very strongly committed to the principles of an environmentally and resource-friendly approach. The renaturation of the open-cast mine and overburden areas is a continuous process that begins immediately when the mining in one area has ended. Base Titanium is committed to leaving the country as, or even better, than it was taken over. Almost half of the employees work in this area. For the large amounts of water required, no water is taken from the river that flows over the mine site. Base Titanium endeavors to reuse most of the water through its own water cycle. The additional water required is secured by own wells on the site. Base Titanium also works with farms and surrounding communities to help them strive for a healthy environment. Waste is avoided as far as possible and recycled if possible.
Please read also the interview about technical questions.

Before starting the tour, we took a delicious breakfast. We took a group photo outside the bus. After entering the bus, we were instructed to tie our safety belts for safety precautions. On our way, we entered a huge dam and saw a big muddy lake called slime. The water of the lake is being recycled and used for the mining. From far away, we saw water guns working at a hill where they are mining the earth.

Then we came to the place where a water gun was working. We went to the gun and met Abdul, the man in charge of it. He told us that he works for four days and four nights and then goes off for four days and four nights. The water gun is used to get the mud-laden water from the mining site into the pipes to the plant.

After that, we went on going round with the bus and we saw some large dunes which were like mountains. These were tailings of the mining. We also saw some people in Base Titanium uniforms planting some indigenous plants on the top of the dam of mined soil. We went to the plant and we saw how they process the material. There was a large pipe which was pouring the minerals from the water gun. Inside the plant, the minerals are separated and finally packed into the trucks.

How the mining is done

In the presentation we learned that Titanium is not mined directly, but only the raw materials from which Titanium can then be made. In Kwale it is the mineral ores Ilmenite, Rutile and Zircon. Zircon is the highest quality, rarest and most expensive. Base Titanium no longer mines the three mineral ores with bulldozers, but in a hydraulic process. This means that the soil is washed up with large water cannons and a liquid mixture of sand and water is created, the so-called slurry. With large pumps, the slime is pumped through pipes into the plant. And that in a quantity of 400 tons per hour. Once there, the slurry is shaken and spun, because the sand is lighter than the mineral ores, it separates from them through the movement. Then the slurry is dried and a mixture of the three mineral ores Ilmenite, Rutile and Zircon is left over, the so-called Heavy Mineral Concentrate (HMC) and the first phase of the preparation is complete. In the second phase, the three ores are separated from one another. Since Ilmenite is very strongly magnetic, it can be split off by a magnetic process. The Rutile is then split off from the zircon by an electromagnetic process that remains. Ilmenite and Rutile are mainly exported to China, where they are processed into titanium dioxide, which is used in the manufacture of pigment and in aircraft construction. Zircon is mainly used in ceramic production in Spain and Italy.
Please read also the interview about environmental questions.

We then went to the canteen and had some lunch. The catering services were very nice. We were served with rice, chicken, greens, drinks, oranges and cakes.

Thereafter we had an interview with Valentina about technical questions, environmental questions and questions about people. You can find the interviews below attached to this reportage. Valentina told us that she has been working at Base Titanium for two years. She explained to us the method they used to find out about the Titanium.

After that, we said goodbye and thank you to Valentina and we came back to school.

I am Jolene, this are my colleagues Anifa and Jasmine. We are Nice View Reporters. What is your name, please?

I’m Valentina and I am public relations of Base Titanium.

For how long have you been working at Base Titanium?

I personally started to work at Base Titanium just two years ago.

How many hours do you work a day?

I have to report at 7:30 and my shift is until 5 o’clock, so that’s about 9 hours.

What are the challenges you have faced so far?

Mining is a new concept in Kenya, and the communities may not have been very comfortable with it happening. How we handle that challenge is by consistently educating our communities about what we do and always giving facts to our communities, so they don’t feel like they are missing out on any information. Most of our employees will come from the villages and areas around us. In terms of other challenges, we have a great personnel that know what their jobs are. If any challenges are coming up, for example in the plant, we have a 24 hours maintenance team. If something with mining happens, there is a whole team associated to work on it straight away.

How do you relate with the surrounding community?

At Base Titanium, we have a community department. In this department, we have a health section, we have a livelihood section, and we have an infrastructure section. Those three do three very separate jobs but they all have to work together. The community health will encourage communities to have health units. Those health units have volunteers from the particular villages, and they educate their peers on things like jigger eradication and going to the hospital to have children. And the way that we encourage them to go to the hospital to have children is by building a maternity wing at Likoni hospital. That’s two parts of community working together, infrastructure and health. We also have helped to build a blood bank and provided an ambulance for Msambweni, and as many villages as possible around the mine site and around Likoni port facility are supported to make sure that they receive good health care. We provide scholarships for secondary and tertiary education. We renovate schools. With the livelihood project we are assisting farmers around the area to make sure that they are growing crops so that they don’t have a loss of income at the end of the mine life. We are also building a business park called Pavi Business Park to revive the Kwale cotton industry and  benefit Kwale County as a whole. The ginnery will take picked Kwale cotton and produce cotton fibre. We help provide connections for exporting to an international market.

How have people from the surrounding communities have benefited from you?

Mainly through employment. Over 60 per cent of our total population of employees come from Kwale county. We also help with the scholarships to educate children from Kwale County and Likoni sub-county. We support health and livelihood projects. So we have tried to tap into every faction of the community.

Which methods did you use to find the Titanium?

Before you can mine, you need to know where to find the minerals. So we have a team of geologists that study the lay of the land, showing where the minerals can be found. Our exploration team go out and take samples from those different areas and use laboratory testing to confirm what minerals are in the samples.

How many types of minerals are mined here?

We are mining only three, Rutile, Ilmenite and Zircon. If we are lucky enough to find any more, it goes back in the soil, because we don’t need it.

Why are people wearing uniforms of different colors at the mine?

The majority of the staff of Base Titanium will be in orange and blue. If you are an apprentice or an intern, you get different colored shirts so that you get easily recognized. One is in red, the other one is in a full blue jumpsuit. If you come from Base Toliara, our sister company, then you tend to be in yellow.

What is the work of the managers of Base Titanium?

We have 3 General Managers at Base Titanium and they are tasked with overseeing three separate sections: Operations, Environment and Community Affairs and External Affairs. The GM for Operations is in charge of lots of departments, all involved with the smooth running of the Kwale Mine and Likoni Port Facility. The GM of Environment and Community Affairs ensures that our closest neighbours (the community) and our environment (including the nursery onsite) are looked after. The GM for External Affairs handles communication with the National and County Government as well as all information that is in the public domain.

What is the vision of Base Titanium company?

A main vision was when we first started that we went from a company that was a 97 per cent expatriat employee to precisely the opposite so that we are 97 per cent Kenyan, and we have managed to do that by 2020.

Thank you very much for this interview.

You are very welcome.

Why do you think it is important to people to conserve the environment?

Where else are we going to live? We only have one earth. If we don’t look after our home, where are we supposed to go?

How do you make good use of your waste products?

As a mineral sands operations, most of our waste product actually comes from the sands. With the sands that we don’t use we create these tailings storage facility which is here on site. It’s a big wall and inside we put our other waste products – if it’s that you want to call them – that are called slimes, which are the clay and the water and other minerals that we don’t need in our mining.

What do you do to conserve the land after mining?

At Base Titanium, we have an environment department that works alongside the mining department. After operations, we have to rehabilitate and we have to restore, so we have to put back the land if not as we found it then better than we found it. So what we do is a rehabilitation process on the areas that already have been mined. Once the miners have finished mining and moved to the next block, the environment team comes up. They’ve saved up top soil from the very beginning. With sand being our main waste product we put a layer in top of that called mulch, and then we put the top soil. Then we plant grass, and then we plant indigenous plants and trees.

When you are planting trees, do you make seedbeds or do you buy seedlings from farmers outside?

I’m not 100% sure of how we plant but I do know that we buy our seedlings from the community groups around us. We have important knowledge for them about indigenous trees, and they give knowledge to us, too, and with that we are able to tell them which seedling they should be getting. We buy it from them so they have an income.

What type of trees do you plant?

We plant indigenous trees, so they are trees that should be here. We don’t have any exotic trees which means that they come from somewhere else and are transplanted.

After planting the trees, who do they belong to?

They belong to the communities around us. Base Titanium doesn’t own the land we are mining on. We lease it, which means, we are borrowing it. We then have to give it back to the government. So, the trees we plant belong to the people of Kenya.

Pumpkins and watermelons are good in conserving the soil, do you also plant them?

I can’t say absolutely sure that we plant pumpkins and watermelons. I know that it is indigenous trees. I can find out and get back to you.

What is your source of water?

We have various sources of water. We have boreholes, we have a dam, and we have a recycling initiative. Whatever water we use in the mining we try as hard as we can to bring back into use again so that it doesn’t go to waste. Because water is very precious.

How far does your water come from?

For example with the dam, it will come from a seasonal river which is the Mukurumudzi. We have boreholes and use water found on our mine site rather than from other areas.

Do your waste products have any effect on the environment?

I would say yes, they do, because they have an effect on the shape of the land. But it’s not an ill effect, it’s not damaging the environment. It’s just shifting the shape of what was here before.

How far should the villages be from the mining factory?

The special mining lease is a document that is drawn up between Base Titanium and the government. The distance away from where you mine is decided between them. The villages here that used to be are not on the mine site. But once you get to the edge of our boundary, there are villages. They are very very close, it’s just that they are not on the mine site.

Why is it important to be in full gear before working?

We are a working mine and accidents can happen. You need to be in full gear especially if you are working in the plant or on site to make sure that you are fully protected from your head to your toes. You have to wear a helmet, you all have to wear goggles because there’s lot of dust flying around, and if you are in the plant something could spark off and hurt your eyes. Our long sleeve shirts and our reflective vests protect our arms and make sure that you can be seen and our trousers protect our legs. We then have safety boots, and if you’re working inside a plant, you also have things to plug inside your ears to shut out the noise. And those who are working in maintenance and with equipment that’s heavy also wear gloves to make sure that their hands are protected.

We were told to come with long trousers and socks, why is that?

We have to take in consideration the safety of all our visitors as well as ours. We are going to be outside, so you need to make sure that your legs are covered, and have closed shoes so you don’t stub your toe and hurt yourself. If you weren’t able to bring closed toe shoes, we have safety boots to a certain size. But it’s really important for anyone that is slightly younger, below the age of fifteen, to have their own shoes.

Have you ever experienced soil erosion or landslides?

In the short time that I worked at Base Titanium, no, we haven’t experienced a landslide or soil erosion.

Do you have challenges conserving the environment?

Yes, I think, everyone has challenges. You could have a planting season where you put plants down and then they get washed away. We have a nursery where they test to see if all the techniques are working for the conservation and rehabilitation and restoration. So you have to try it, tweak it a little bit and watch if it works for what you were trying to do.

Thank you very much for the interview.

You are welcome.

Good afternoon. We are Nice View Reporters, my name is Yusuf, this is Mohammed, and Abubakar.

Nice to meet you.

Can we have an interview with you?

Of course you can.

Who is the head of Base Titanium and what is the structure of the company?

Base Titanium is a subsidiary. So, if you take parents and children, we would be the first child and the parent company is Base Resources. Base Resources has two people in charge of it, they are based in Australia. They have a board that manages the running of their company. At Base Titanium, we have three general managers, and then we have a board of directors above them, and they all have to report to the people in Australia. Then we have a second company which is Base Toliara which has just started, they have the same structure as Base Titanium.

How many people are employed at Base Titanium?

Permanent staff are over 700. We have a total of about 1,100,  including outsourced contractors.

How do you make Titanium?

We do not make titanium. We are not mining a metal, we are mineral sands operation. We take out three minerals that have titanium oxide in them: Rutile, Ilmenite and Zircon. Rutile and Ilmenite are sort of a dark colour, nearly black, and Zircon is a golden coloured sand.

How is Titanium mined?

At the beginning we used a mining method called dozer mining units which is the use of bulldozers, but currently we use hydraulic mining units which is basically using water as a method. It is all open pit.

How do you transport the minerals?

We transport the minerals in two separate ways. One way is in the back of contracted lorries so they can then go to our Likoni port facility and are transported outside of Kenya with bulk shipping. The second way to transport minerals is inside bags going to containers. The containers then go to Mombasa port, and those containers go on to other ships and are taken to different parts of the world.

How many trucks do you have?

We as Base Titanium don’t owe a single transport truck. We have a contract with a truck company.

What do you use to pack Titanium into the trucks?

The minerals that are transported with bulk shipping don’t need any sort of bags, the minerals go right into the back of the truck, just as they would go right into the belly of the ship. For those that are going into containers, they are going into bags, those bags go into containers, and the container go into the trucks.

Why do you cover the trucks at the top during transportation?

Because we don’t want to loose any minerals on the way.

How many kilometers do you cover from Base Titanium to the port in Likoni?

It is 25 km from Base Titanium to Ukunda, and then it is roughly 30 km from Ukunda to the port facility, so it is 50-55 km.

What are the challenges you have faced so far?

Challenges of transportation are if we have any sort of delays on the road to the port facility which delays how many tons of minerals we can get to the port every day. Other challenges will vary from how the communities will respond to us, and maybe we can have a few glitches in our plant. It’s different challenges every day, just like running a normal business.

How have you worked on the challenges?

Day by day. If it is traffic for example, the challenge is completely different to if it is a big downpour. We can’t change the weather, can we? If it is within our control, we try and handle it the best we can.

How long do you mine to get the minerals?

We have been mining in Kwale since 2013 and our current mining lease will end in 2022. We have made applications to extend our current mining license to 2024 as well as to mine in other parts of Kwale County and Kenya.

Thank you very much for the interview.

You are welcome.

Episode 1: A visit to the Marine Education Centre in Diani, Kwale, Kenya

The Marine Education Centre in Diani opened in September 2018. Its main purpose is to raise awareness to the highly vulnerable marine habitat.

The Green Team of the Nice View Reporter 2020 project visited the Centre for their very first episode of the brand new Nice View Reporter Podcast.

[podlove-episode-web-player post_id=”1887″]

We were at Nice View Gratitude day care and we met Anna and Epiphania. We wanted to know how their work is done and the challenges that they face. One of the challenges is parents taking their children to school without sweaters, during cold weather and also during the rainy seasons. The children can´t play outdoor games. This forces her to take the children to the yoga room for some activities.

We asked one of the teachers how much salary is she paid per month. And she said the salary is a private matter. That was our last question and we thanked them for their co-operation. (Team 1)

We were at Nice View daycare. We interviewed the teachers and children and took photos. The children were so happy and some were shy.

We interviewed one mama and she said one of the challenges is that the parents don´t bring the children early. The children don´t come early but still the mamas love the children.

After the interview the mama took the children to the toilet and after that they went for break.

We said goodbye  to the happy daycare and had learned something about the daycare. (Team 2)