Land title vs mining licence in Kenya: what you are actually buying
27 Oct 2026 · Aurelot
The most common misunderstanding among first-time gold investors in Kenya is simple: they believe that buying the land means owning the gold. It does not. This article explains the difference and what it means for your deal.
General information only. Mining law changes, so confirm the details with a Kenyan advocate before you sign anything.
The gold belongs to the state
Kenya's Constitution and the Mining Act 2016 vest minerals in the national government, held on behalf of the people. Whoever owns the surface owns the land, but the right to explore for or extract gold comes from a mineral right issued by the state.
So every gold plot has two layers:
| Layer | What it gives you | Issued by |
|---|---|---|
| Land title or lease | Ownership or use of the surface | Land registry / county (for community land, the community) |
| Mineral right | Permission to explore for or mine minerals | Ministry responsible for mining, under the Mining Act 2016 |
A good deal lines both up: you secure the land you need and a valid mineral right over it.
The main types of mineral rights
The Mining Act 2016 sets out several rights. The ones you will meet most often in gold listings are:
- Artisanal mining permit. For small-scale traditional mining by Kenyan citizens, often through groups or cooperatives. The Act sets up county artisanal mining committees to support this. Common on small plots with existing hand-dug shafts.
- Prospecting licence or permit. Lets the holder search for minerals: mapping, sampling, trenching and sometimes drilling. It does not allow commercial mining.
- Retention licence. Lets a holder keep rights to a discovery that is not yet economic to mine.
- Mining licence or mining permit. Lets the holder actually mine. Large-scale mining licences come with heavier obligations, including environmental approvals and community agreements.
Mineral rights are applied for and managed through the ministry's online mining cadastre, which records the holder, area and status of each right.
Landowner and community consent
Holding a mineral right does not let you walk onto someone else's land. The Mining Act requires consent from the landowner or lawful occupier, and on community land the community's consent matters. Compensation for use of land is also addressed in the Act. In practice, many disputes in Kenya's gold areas start when a licence holder and the people on the land disagree.
There have been proposals to change when consent is needed (for example, only before actual mining rather than before prospecting). Check the current position with your advocate.
Royalties and revenue sharing
Gold produced under a mineral right pays a royalty to the state on its gross value. The rate is set by regulation rather than in the Act itself, and it has been revised: recent regulations were reported to cut the gold royalty from 5% to 3%. Confirm the rate in force when you model a deal.
Under the Mining Act, royalties are shared 70% to the national government, 20% to the county and 10% to the host community. This is one reason community relations matter so much in mining areas.
What this means when you buy
Before you pay for a gold plot, make sure you know:
- Who owns the land, confirmed by an official search.
- Whether a mineral right exists, its type, number, holder and expiry, confirmed on the cadastre.
- Whether the right covers the whole plot you are buying, or only part of it.
- Whether the right can pass to you, and what consent or new application that needs.
- Whether you are eligible to hold it. Some rights, such as artisanal permits, are only for Kenyan citizens or citizen-owned groups.
- What the community expects, and whether there are existing miners on the ground.
A plot with land title but no mineral right is not worthless: it may be the right starting point for an application. But it should be priced as an opportunity that still needs a licence, not as a ready mine.
How Aurelot shows this
Every Aurelot listing states the mineral right type and land tenure separately, and our checks panel shows whether we have confirmed the licence on the mining cadastre and completed a land search. Plots without a mineral right are labelled "No mineral right yet", so you always know what you are buying.