Scramble On for Kenya’s Mrima Hill Rare Earths and Niobium
Kenya · MINING Key Facts —What happened Kenya, on Africa’s east coast, opened a tender in March 2026 for Mrima Hill, a rare earth and niobium deposit. —The numbers The widely cited US$62.4 billion is a 2013 in-ground estimate by former licence holder Cortec, not a deal price. —The catch Kenya’s 2022 mapping found thorium, […] The post Scramble On for Kenya’s Mrima Hill Rare Earths and Niobium…
Kenya's Kwale County's Mrima Hill deposit, a rare earths and niobium site, has attracted six shortlisted bidders in a tender opened by mining minister Hassan Joho on March 27, 2026. The deposit, located 65 kilometers southwest of Mombasa, was identified in Kenya's 2022 geological mapping to contain niobium, yttrium, lanthanum, strontium, and radioactive thorium. Niobium is used in steel and aerospace alloys, while rare earths are crucial in electronics, magnets, and defence equipment.
Cortec Mining Kenya, the former licence holder, estimated the in-ground value at US$62.4 billion in 2013, but no feasibility study has been published, rendering it an old estimate rather than a deal price. The tender invites expressions of interest with a commitment to process minerals within Kenya, due to the technical and capital-intensive nature of processing rare earths and niobium. Thorium's presence raises processing and permitting sensitivity for any future operator.
The US State Department pledged to help Kenya build a minerals processing industry in September 2026, rejecting a model based solely on exporting raw ore. President William Ruto met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the UN General Assembly in New York, discussing critical minerals and opportunities for US firms to add value in Kenya.
Critical Metals Corp and Australia's RareX were among the initial shortlisted bidders, with Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai later confirming six bidders, although the exact counts have not been reconciled publicly.
The tender is not only about geology but also about Kenya's ability to turn a contested, long-dormant deposit into a working industrial asset. The US backing aligns with a broader African push to move beyond extraction and build value within the continent. However, any winning bidder must address the challenges of safely handling radioactive thorium and securing local permits.
The next milestone would be the naming of a preferred bidder, with investors keeping an eye on a potential published feasibility study to replace the old 2013 estimate with a defensible project value.
Written by urgent.news from The Rio Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
