Kenya has invited expressions of interest in its prized deposit of rare earths at Mrima Hill, a test of whether the country can capitalise on intensifying interest in Africa’s mineral resources to become a strategic supplier of critical minerals.
Kenyan authorities hope the launch of competitive bidding will draw intense competition from the US, China and Australia, as the Trump administration seeks to counter Beijing’s global dominance of rare earth metals used in high-performance magnets, defence and electronics industries and build its own supply chains.
Hassan Ali Joho, cabinet secretary for mines, told the FT before the tender process was gazetted last Friday that more than 10 companies from around the world had signalled interest in the project.
He predicted an outcome within several months and said that a commitment to invest in processing in-country was a priority for Kenya, which is seeking to develop largely untapped deposits in minerals including gold, nickel, lithium and tantalum.
“Because of the interest it has generated and the value, it will be subject to a competitive process, meaning whoever gives Kenya the best deal on beneficiation,” he said. “Let me assure you it will not be extracted and exported in raw form, it will be processed in the country.”
Rare earths and niobium were discovered in the 1930s at the site, located near the Indian Ocean 65 kms from the port at Mombasa. Anglo American later carried out drilling in the area.
But more recently, development was held up by a protracted legal dispute, after the government revoked the permit of previous holder, Cortec Mining Limited, which was 70 per cent owned by Canada’s Pacific Wildcat Resources.
Cortec estimated the deposits of niobium and other rare earth minerals at the site to be worth at least $62bn. That figure, mining executives said, has raised Kenyan expectations and the political stakes of the project substantially, without taking into account the huge costs of extracting and processing any minerals found and addressing radioactive content.
Development of the project will be complicated by its position in a forest that is sacred as a burial and ritual site to the Digo community in the area.
“It’s the poster child for Kenya,” a senior mining executive from one of the interested companies said, asking not to be named. “If they get Mrima Hill right a lot of mining capital will follow.”
The Kenya government said in a notice gazetted last week that a 2022 geological mapping exercise confirmed the presence of five elements including niobium, thorium, yttrium, strontium and lanthanum at the site.
Niobium is used in the defence and electronics industry, while yttrium is a sought-after rare earth element used in sectors including aerospace and is in short supply outside China.
Thorium, meanwhile, is a radioactive element, and not generally desirable, while lanthanum is typically a low-value product and not a profit driver for rare earths miners.
Industry experts said the thorium content in the deposit was expected to make it more difficult to exploit.
Among companies that have previously signalled interest in Mrima Hill are Australia’s RareX, which formed a joint venture with Australian critical minerals producer Iluka Resources in a bid to invest in the site last year.
A US consortium calling itself Mrima Earth, made up of institutional investors and an unnamed strategic investor, also submitted proposals, according to the Kenyan press, which said Chinese state companies have previously signalled interest in the project.
In a follow-up interview this week Joho said no formal bids had yet been submitted. The priority was to ensure there was value creation in the country, “without losing sight of friends and allies”, but “we’re not restricting the tender” and potential buyers from any nation could bid, he said.
The government listed “vast experience” in rare earths mining, the necessary financial resources and “an ability to process the minerals locally and contribute significantly to global supply chains” as key criteria.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Washington lobbied hard for a US-led group to buy the troubled miner Chemaf, as part of its minerals partnership with the African nation. The DR Congo government approved the sale to the American company Virtus Minerals in March.
Joho brushed off claims that geopolitics would play a dominant role, and that Washington had piled pressure on Kenya to ensure the process goes its way.
“Our president is known for saying ‘Kenya Kwanzaa’, which in Kiswahili means ‘Kenya first’,” he said. “The same thing is said by President Donald Trump, which is understandable. I mean everybody must look at their interests, but we in Kenya are looking at our interests.”
