Migori and Kakamega artisanal gold cooperatives
Rongo, Osiri, Macalder, Ikolomani and Rosterman workings
Kenya's real gold industry: tens of thousands of artisanal miners on the western greenstone belts, organised into cooperatives that the state is now trying to license and buy from.
- Licence type
- Artisanal mining permits and cooperative-held small-scale licences
- Primary mineral
- Gold
- Counties
- Migori, Kakamega, Vihiga, Siaya, Bungoma, West Pokot, Turkana
- Workforce
- Estimated over 100,000 including dependants
- Current status
- Licensing
The scale nobody licenses
Artisanal producers account for the overwhelming majority of Kenyan gold, yet only a fraction of that metal is declared. Gold moves through local buyers to Nairobi and onward, often leaving the country undeclared or documented as jewellery scrap.
County governments licence some activity, national government licences the rest, and the split has produced overlapping fees without a single register of who is actually mining.
Mercury, shafts and water
Unsupported shafts collapse with regularity in Ikolomani and Osiri, and mercury amalgamation is standard in the sluices. Kenya ratified the Minamata Convention but retort adoption on the ground is minimal.
What we track
Cooperative licensing progress, whether the state buying scheme pays a competitive price, and county-level accident reporting.
Compiled from public licence records, government statements and Bulletin reporting. A profile is not an endorsement. Corrections: newsroom@mineralbulletin.com