Four gold explorers are entangled in a dispute over allocation and sharing of mining fields in Turkana County, a fight that has put Mining Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho on the spot over alleged irregular issuance of licenses.
The court dispute between Mayfox Mining Company Ltd and Lorado Company Limited involves a disagreement over rights on precious metals found within the Naduat area of Nakalale Ward in Turkana.
Two other miners, AHG Metals Kenya Limited and H-Nuo Kenya Company Limited, have also been roped into the dispute following claims by Lorado that they have been allocated the mining fields by CS Joho even before the court decides the case.
The area is rich with gold, which is a significant foreign income earner for the country, contributing to the economy through employment, infrastructure development and foreign exchange earnings.
The court case was initiated by Mayfox challenging the decision of the Cabinet Secretary and Director of Mines and Geology to register and allocate the said mining field to Lorado.
At the heart of the dispute are allegations of irregular, illegal, biased and ulterior motives on the part of the CS and the director in the issuance of mining licences.
A degraded mining site at Naduat village in Turkana North Sub County.
According to Lorado, it has since lost the disputed cadaster area and the field was split into three blocks by the government and assigned to AHG Metals Kenya Limited and H-Nuo Kenya Company Limited.
'Irregular issuance'
Lorado says the actions of the CS, the Director of Mines & Geology and the Attorney-General “indicate a determination to grant a mining License to AHG Metals Kenya Limited and H-Nuo Kenya Company Limited by hook or crook”.
It says that on March 20, 2025, the CS issued a public notice of his intention to grant a mining license to AHG Metals Kenya Limited for one of the blocks that is subject to the court case.
Mayfox, through its representative Manga Mugwe, moved to court aggrieved that its cadaster area had been removed from the mining cadastre portal early last year before any decision was communicated. He says this raised serious procedural impropriety and evidenced bad faith.
This was despite his company submitting requisite documents and paying a fee of Sh2 million for renewal of licences to continue mining in the said goldfield.
Mayfox was the holder of a Special Prospecting Licence issued on March 26, 2015, pursuant to a license granted in February 2005 to Sebimu Exploration and Mining Company Limited.
Petition
In the petition for judicial review filed in June 2024 at the High Court in Milimani, Nairobi, Mayfox wants the court to quash the registration and allocation of its area to any other miner.
The legal action arose due to the respondents' actions, including the gazettment of AHG Metals Kenya Limited vide gazette notice dated March 28, 2025, signaling an imminent issuance of a licence over the very area under dispute.
However, the Attorney General said the decision sought to be suspended has already been implemented.
“Once a decision has been implemented, stay is no longer efficacious as there may be nothing remaining to be stayed. This is a matter of public interest thus the order of stay ought not to be granted as sought by the applicant in this matter,” said the AG.
The Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi.
Justice John Chigiti has since ordered for status quo pending determination of the dispute. He found that Mayfox did not present a strong case for the issuance of prohibitory orders against the CS, Director and AG.
“The applicant has not made out a case for the grant of the order as sought. However, sitting as the fair administrative action court, I find it appropriate to issue an order that status quo be maintained pending the hearing and final determination of the proceedings,” said Justice Chigiti.
He observed that inaction on the part of the court would ultimately lead to an outcome that would prejudice one of the litigants or the entire mining sector.
Mayfox wanted the court to restrain the respondents from issuing a license to AHG Metals Kenya Limited.
The company stated that it made a formal application for renewal of its license and diligently complied with all requests from the CS and Director of Mining and made a payment of ground rent and prospecting fees totaling Sh2 million.
After that, it submitted and uploaded all requested documents and a technical exploration report, along with an explanation of the exploration moratorium. It submits that it is aggrieved that the Director of Mines and Geology rejected the renewal application. Its appeal to the CS and the Director has never been responded to.
The court heard that the silence and continued progression towards allocating the area to AHG Metals Kenya Limited demonstrate administrative disregard, entrenching the need for urgent judicial intervention.
In response, Lorado Company Limited said that between March 2015 to May 2024, the area was allocated to Mayfox Mining Company. On May 9, 2024 Mayfox license was removed from the mining cadastre portal and the area remained vacant
The following day, Lorado lodged an application for a prospecting license on the mining cadastre portal over the area and the said application was accepted.
However, the application was expunged from the portal four days later and up to July 2024 the area was reallocated to Mayfox.
The Mayfox’s license was once again removed in July and the area was split into three blocks; two were assigned to AHG Metals Kenya Limited and one to H-Nuo Kenya Company Limited.
Lorado said that on March 20, 2025 the CS Mining issued a notice of his intention to grant a mining license to AHG Metals Kenya Limited over the same mining fields.
“There are procedural mistakes, bias and unfairness on the part of the CS and the Director that bring into question their actions and motives in administering the area that is subject of these proceedings,” it said.
“The question that is outstanding in this instance is did these two companies conduct an exploration program under a prospecting License in order to qualify to progress to mining? If so, under what legal regime or licensing,” said Lorado.
It further stated that it has no faith in the mechanism provided for lodging an objection under a Gazette Notice.
