KENYA has invited expressions of interest in its Mrima Hill rare earths and niobium deposit, launching a competitive tender process that Nairobi hopes will attract bidders from the US, China and Australia.
The prospect of investment in Mrima Hill comes amid intensifying global competition for critical minerals, said the Financial Times which reported on the tender process last week.
Cabinet secretary for mines Hassan Ali Joho said more than 10 companies had already signalled interest in the project ahead of the tender being gazetted last week. He said in-country processing was a non-negotiable condition of any award.
“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,” Joho said. “Let me assure you it will not be extracted and exported in raw form, it will be processed in the country,” he told the Financial Times.
A 2022 geological survey confirmed the presence of niobium, thorium, yttrium, strontium and lanthanum at the site, located in forest near the Indian Ocean coast some 65km from Mombasa. Previous holder Cortec Mining estimated the deposit’s value at $62bn, a figure that mining executives cautioned takes no account of extraction, processing costs or the site’s radioactive content.
Thorium, a radioactive element, is expected to complicate exploitation of the deposit, said the newspaper. The project faces additional sensitivities as the forest is regarded as sacred by the local Digo community.
Among previously interested parties are Australia’s RareX, which formed a joint venture with Iluka Resources to pursue the project, and a US consortium called Mrima Earth comprising institutional and strategic investors. Chinese state companies have also reportedly signalled interest.
Joho said the tender was open to all nationalities, and that while geopolitical pressure existed, Kenya’s interests came first. “Our president is known for saying ‘Kenya Kwanza’, which in Kiswahili means ‘Kenya first’,” he said.
