The High Court of Mombasa has dismissed a lawsuit launched in February 2001, by three Kenyan citizens claiming damages and requesting an injunction against further work at Tiomin Resources‘ (TIO-T) Kwale mineral sands project in coastal Kenya.
Back in February, Justice Hayanga issued an ex parte 14-day work injunction to Tiomin, which prevented the company from pursuing exploration or development in the project area. It also prohibited Tiomin from having any contact with local residents. A subsequent ruling in Sept. 21, 2001, indicated that the injunction should remain in place pending the resolution of the court case.
Tiomin petitioned Justice Onyancha, who replaced Justice Hayanga in December, to lift the work injunction on the grounds that it is wrongly based in fact and in law and furthermore to dismiss the lawsuit on the basis that it is not a class action suit by 203 farmers but solely initiated by three individuals, two of whom are not farmers. The third one is a farmer who signed a lease agreement with Tiomin Kenya some four years ago and has collected land rent.
The injunction has also been lifted.
Tiomin says that to the government of Kenya has completed its review of the environmental impact study for Kwale, and that it expects to be issued the environmental permit for the project shortly. The company will now look to negotiate a mining lease and other related permits.
Kwale’s feasibility study envisages production of more than 300,000 tonnes of sulphatable ilmenite, about 38,000 tonnes of high quality zircon and more than 75,000 tonnes of premium rutile annually for the first six years of the operation. The mine will have a total lifespan of about 13 years.
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