Mining firm Base Titanium pays Kenya $49m in royalties, taxes

Base Titanium, the company extracting titanium minerals in Kwale County, paid the government Ksh7.17 billion ($49.3 million) in royalties and taxes in the year ending June 2023, filings by its Australia-based parent Base Resources show.

The government’s earnings from the titanium operation, however, represented a fall of 3.4 percent compared to the Ksh7.42 billion ($51.1 million) it raked in during the year ending June 2022.

Base recorded lower volumes last year on diminishing ore deposits in the mining lease area, but these were largely offset by higher ore prices in the global market in the period.

The miner paid out royalties worth $14.58 million (Ksh2.12 billion) in the period, representing a 19 percent drop from the $18 million (Ksh2.62 billion) paid out in the year to June 2022.

Its income tax bill for the Kwale operation stood at $22.19 million (Ksh3.22 billion), up from $19.6 million (Ksh2.85 billion) in the previous period.

Base Resources also paid the government a withholding tax of $12.6 million (Ksh1.83 billion) from the dividends it received from its Kenyan subsidiary.

“Despite lower production following the introduction of the North Dune, and benefiting from a robust pricing environment, sales revenue for the group of $271 million was only three percent lower than the 2022 financial year,” said Base Resources in its annual report for 2023.

“Base Titanium distributed $84 million of surplus cash, via dividend, to the group’s ultimate parent entity, Base Resources. The dividend distribution by Base Titanium incurred Kenyan dividend withholding tax at a rate of 15 percent, totalling $12.6 million.”

The latest payments to the government add to the billions of shillings it has already earned from the mining venture in the form of taxes and royalties, making the Kwale operation the most profitable extractive business for the country.

The life of the Kwale mining operation runs until the end of next year.