Australian Company to Lay Off 1,600 Kenyans After Announcing Exit

Base Titanium, an Australian mining company that has been operating in the country for over a decade, has issued an update on its plans to exit Kenya. 

Located in Kwale County, Base Titanium was operating Kenya’s largest mine focused on the extraction of ilmenite, runite and zicron.  

Speaking during the Inaugural Kenya Mining Investment Conference 2024, Simon Wall- the External Affairs Manager- explained that this difficult decision was made after determining that there are insufficient minerals to sustain their operations.

“As mining ceases, our base operations will no longer generate revenue, which means we will stop paying royalties and taxes, and our contributions to the Community Development Initiatives (CDICs) will come to an end as well,” the company stated.

The company announced that it will begin laying off employees on December 31, affecting the first cohort of approximately 600 workers.

Base Titanium to lay off over 1600 employees

It also announced that the remaining 1,000 employees will all have received their termination letters by end of June 2025.

“Staff redundancies will start on December 31st. We have about 500 to 600 staff members who will be transitioning at that point. Between January 1st and June 30th of next year, the remaining staff will gradually be let go,” the company stated.

Also Read: Job Losses as Carrefour Kenya Closes Major Mall

The company announced it will compensate laid-off workers with Ksh 1 billion following the shutdown, and its new operations will be in Madagascar.

In addition to laying off workers, the company announced it will initiate a land reclamation process in the Kwale mining area to ensure sustainable mining before returning the land to the government.

The mining company based in Kwale to return mining land to government

“We are very proud of the rehabilitation work we are doing. We believe we are setting a standard, not just in Kenya but global as well and the work that Titanium is doing is phenomenal.

You can drive through areas of the mine site that have been rehabilitated that you would have no idea that it used to be a mine,” Wall stated.

Also Read: G4S Kenya Announces Plans to Fire 400 Employees

Titanium’s announcement of laying off of workers comes just a day after Carrefour Kenya stated that it was closing its Kisumu Mega Plaza Mall store, effective November 30, 2024, which will render a majority of employees jobless.

The decision to close the mall was made as part of a strategic evaluation to ensure the long-term plans for Kenya remain feasible and sustainable due to the company’s strategic plans for sustainability.

About the Mining Company

Base Titanium is a Kenyan subsidiary of Base Resources, an Australian-based company.

It operates the Kwale Mineral Sands Project, which is Kenya’s largest mine and a flagship project under the Kenya Vision 2030 development blueprint.

The Kwale Project, located about 50 kilometers south of Mombasa, produces mineral sands such as rutile, ilmenite, and zircon, which are used in various industrial applications.

The project began operations in 2013 and has since expanded its mining activities.

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