The mining industry in Kenya is gaining recognition owing to the significant deposits of minerals that have been discovered in various parts of the country in recent months.

Kenya Chamber of Mines Chief Executive officer Monica Gichuhi says with the mining and business

investment conference held on Thursday and Friday, Kenyan investors need to know more about the sector.

Gichuhi speaks more about the status of the mining Industry.

What is the potential of mining sector in the country and how much could it significantly contribute to the GDP in the near future?

Currently, mining is at 0.8 percent contribution to GDP but its interesting when you look at what the upcoming project in Titanium will contribute 1 percent to the GDP which will raise it to 1.08 percent.

This means that if we have four of such projects in the near future the potential of contribution of GDP will be about 6.4 percent.

However, the only way to know the potential of the industry is by carrying out an airborne survey to map out where these minerals are and their potential.

The government has partnered with the Chinese government to do the airborne survey; it's a good start towards mapping the resources.

After the survey we will see investors jetting in to do exploration and its only through exploration that mines get developed and the industry is looking forward for the government to do so soon because it's the key entry point for investors.

How far is the Titanium Project?

The Titanium mining project is going to become the biggest mining project in the country.

The project based in Kwale County will finally kick off before the end of October. The commissioning and testing of the processing plant was underway while the construction of other infrastructure had been completed, paving the way for the extraction of the mineral.

The first shipment of minerals is expected to take place at the beginning of 2014.