{"id":6939,"date":"2026-09-12T08:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T05:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/?p=6939"},"modified":"2026-09-10T13:42:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:42:56","slug":"us-targets-kenya-rare-earths-in-high-stakes-strategy-to-break-chinas-grip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/?p=6939","title":{"rendered":"US targets Kenya rare earths in high-stakes strategy to break China\u2019s grip"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Washington pledges processing technology and funding as Nairobi prepares to award rights for the multi-billion-dollar Mrima Hill deposit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By The Ledger Newsbeat Desk<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NAIROBI \u2014 The United States has pledged to assist Kenya in establishing a domestic critical minerals processing industry, positioning the East African nation as a regional hub as Washington ramps up efforts to secure strategic supply chains and counter Beijing\u2019s dominance in the sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at the 5th American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Kenya Business Summit in Nairobi, Frank Garcia, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, underscored the Washington administration’s commitment to supporting local value addition rather than simply extracting raw materials.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Critical minerals are a top priority for President Trump and Secretary Rubio, and we are ready to work with Kenya as it becomes a regional leader in this space,” Garcia told delegates.<\/sup>“We are ready to help you build a mining sector that is transparent and attracts legitimate businesses, respects communities and helps secure global supply chains”.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting out a clear departure from traditional development models, Garcia added: “Let me be direct: this is not a room for talk. This is a room built on deals.” “For too long, US policy toward Africa meant aid and dependency: open-ended commitments that asked nothing of anyone. Not anymore.” “Our partners want deals; they are tired of lectures and want opportunity, innovation, and cooperation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Targeting Mrima Hill<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The diplomatic push comes as Kenya prepares to select a developer for the Mrima Hill deposit in coastal Kwale County.<\/sup>Located roughly 70 kilometres southwest of Mombasa, the 390-acre site contains deposits of niobium\u2014a vital component in aerospace manufacturing, defence systems, and high-strength steel\u2014alongside rare earth elements estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Official government tender documentation puts the indicated resource at 5.8 million tonnes grading 1.41% niobium pentoxide (<\/sup>$Nb_2O_5$) and 48.7 million tonnes grading 4.4% total rare-earth oxides (TREO).<\/sup>The inferred resource is substantially larger, standing at 17.5 million tonnes at 1.41% <\/sup>$Nb_2O_5$ and 110.7 million tonnes at 5.61% TREO.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenya’s government has placed six companies on a shortlist for the project, with two US groups among those vying for the rights.<\/sup>Nasdaq-listed Critical Metals Corp confirmed its consortium, Mrima Earth Ltd, had advanced as a finalist alongside partner European Lithium Ltd, while rival bids involve Australian and allied partners aiming to secure critical inputs for Western markets.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the shortlist, Tony Sage, Chairman of Critical Metals Corp, remarked: “Being shortlisted for the final stage of this process is a defining moment for Critical Metals and our Consortium. Mrima Hill is precisely the kind of world-class, strategically located asset we have built this Company to pursue”.<\/sup> “We are deeply grateful to the Government of Kenya for the trust it has placed in us and our commitment of delivering lasting value for Kenya as this process moves into its final stage”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris Kulukundis, US acting deputy assistant secretary of state for Southern Africa and critical minerals, expressed confidence in the ongoing selection process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Mrima Hill tender process is moving forward in a transparent manner,” Kulukundis said. “We have two US consortia that we believe are going to be able, if successful and if chosen, to develop the project in the correct way.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rejecting extractive models<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Washington\u2019s initiative forms part of a broader strategy led by the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), which is backing African rare earth projects to reduce reliance on China.<\/sup> Beijing currently controls approximately 90% of global rare earth processing and magnet manufacturing capacity and has progressively tightened export restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garcia directly challenged conventional extractive practices on the continent, contrasting the American strategic approach with that of competitors.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“American companies are not here to extract and ship. That is not partnership. That is extraction,” Garcia stated. “We reject that model. We want processing done right here on the ground in Kenya, not thousands of miles away”.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Processed locally, you keep the value here. You create Kenyan jobs,” Garcia said.<\/sup> “Some of our competitors are efficient at one thing: pulling minerals out of the ground, whisking them offshore and capturing all value addition far away from the lands from which the minerals originated”. “If we are serious about rare earths minerals, energy and a stronger America, we do it in partnership, not alone”.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

China has consistently rejected accusations of exploitative or predatory practices, maintaining that its investments in African infrastructure and mining foster long-term economic development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nairobi\u2019s industrial push<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Kenyan President William Ruto, the American commitment aligns with his administration’s economic blueprint to halt raw mineral exports, raise the mining sector’s contribution to national GDP to 10% by 2030, and foster in-country processing and manufacturing.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In critical minerals, we are accelerating the responsible exploration and development of rare-earth elements, titanium, graphite, lithium, niobium and other strategic resources,” Ruto told the summit audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcoming foreign capital that builds lasting infrastructure rather than depleting resources, Ruto emphasised: “We do not want relationships that extract from Africa or that are exploitative or extractive.” He noted that any future partnership must remain “open, transparent, competitive and mutually beneficial to investors, communities and the Kenyan people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harry Kimtai, Principal Secretary for Kenya’s State Department of Mining, confirmed that the government is evaluating the shortlisted proposals with a strict focus on national value addition.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We want investment in processing and downstream manufacturing that creates value for investors while enabling Kenya to retain value, develop skills and create better jobs,” Kimtai noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the commercial framework for Mrima Hill, mineral royalties will be distributed using a statutory formula: 70% to the national government, 20% to the Kwale County government, and 10% held in trust for local host communities.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruto previously revealed that Nairobi and Washington were close to finalising a formal bilateral critical minerals agreement. Though delegates at the summit provided no concrete timeline on when a final accord will be signed, the imminent decision on Mrima Hill will serve as an immediate benchmark for whether Western financial backing can build complex refining supply chains on African soil.<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington pledges processing technology and funding as Nairobi prepares to award rights for the multi-billion-dollar Mrima Hill deposit By The Ledger Newsbeat Desk NAIROBI \u2014 The United States […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[],"ledger_sector":[],"class_list":["post-6939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6941,"href":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6939\/revisions\/6941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6939"},{"taxonomy":"ledger_sector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theledgerafrica.media\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fledger_sector&post=6939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}