Machines went silent after China Wu Yi was ordered by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to stop all its mining activities in Mai Mahiu, Naivasha.
NEMA claimed that the company’s activities were posing health and environmental risks to the area's residents.
The directive comes barely three days after the Nakuru County Government warned the company over its activities on what the residents termed as destruction of their houses.
The residents were also demanding compensation for the damage on their properties by the company's activities.
They demanded closure of the mining company accused them of violating the law by using excessive explosives.
They further revealed that explosives caused cracks in their houses, death of livestock, an increase in the amount of dust hence the increase in respiratory ailments.
National Environment Complaints Committee (NECC) Chief Executive Officer Dr John Chumo, who ordered the closure of the company, disclosed that they would conduct an environmental impact assessment and if found to have violated the law they would face the law.
Area MCA Stephen Ng’ethe also revealed that the county fully supported the investors but warned against activities that were harmful to the health of residents and the environment.
On February 28, 2019, Chinese contractors working on the Standard Gauge Railway Phase 2A construction stopped using sand harvested from Kenyan riverbanks upon adoption of a new process.
That was after the contractor figured out a way of making sand out of the volcanic rocks on the Rift Valley floor, instead of the common construction sand.
