Farmers in Kwale have suspended talks with a Canadian mining firm on compensation and resettlement agreements.

The move against Tiomin Kenya will await an action plan from the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).

At the same time, the 3,400 farmers maintained that they would not accept anything less than the Sh50,000 an acre a year in relocation fees and Sh10,000 an acre a year lease fee.

These figures are way above Tiomin's proposal of Sh9,000 an acre relocation fee, and Sh2,000 lease fee a year.

But the farmers seem to have softened their stance about the mining firm, and asked the government to give it a licence to start operations.

A spokesman for the Maumba/Nguluku farmers, Mr James Wambua, said the executive committee had incorporated squatters - who formed the largest number of households to be affected by the Sh50 billion mining project in Kwale district - into the group.

Mr Wambua said of the 578 households to be affected by the project in both Maumba and Nguluku, 427 were squatters while 151 had title deeds.

"We want the compensation deal to be uniform between holders of title deeds and squatters. Treating the two parties differently could cause a lot of tension," he said.

Tiomin Kenya Chairman Paul Fortin said his firm had never engaged in mineral mining anywhere in the world before, but had the resources to carry out the exercise in Kenya.

He said Tiomin was ready to abide by the conditions of NEMA, and allayed fears that the firm's activities would harm the environment.

Tiomin had submitted the Environmental Impact Assessment report and the Environmental action plan to NEMA for consideration, said Mr Fortin.

Later, the farmers said they would wish to be moved to a place with similar climate as Kwale.

Mr John Nyamai, the chairman of the farmers' executive committee, said they would not accept to be moved to a harsh environment as they were used to the coastal climate.

"We want to be settled in this same division of Msambweni or anywhere within Kwale District. We shall not agree to move out of this district," he said. Mr Colin Forbes, Tiomin Kenya's Kwale representative, said the company was discussing compensation modalities with the community for two primary schools, several churches and mosques in the area.