Mining conflicts and Corporate Social Responsibility: Titanium mining in Kwale, Kenya

Studies show that mine-related conflict revolves around six issues, namely: (a) land ownership; (b) 'unfair' compensation; (c) inequitable resource distribution; (d) environmental degradation; (e) mine-induced poverty; and (f) conflict over human rights abuses. Because there tends to be an expectation that mine developers will finance tangible projects and services, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) could be an important vehicle for pacifying local communities, and minimising the impact of the abovementioned issues. This article contributes to this debate by examining the place of CSR in Kenya's nascent titanium mining industry. Through an ethno-ecological lens, it examines the extent to which CSR has managed to assuage the disaffection of the local community with the mining operations of the company Tiomin (K). This article also follows up on the call for a shift in thinking from "corporate responsibility" to "reciprocal responsibility" as a way of minimising mining conflicts. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.