Kenya’s Ambitious Push to Attract Global Investors in the Mineral Sector
Kenya is making a strong push to open up its mineral sector to global investors, aiming to position itself as a key player in the rapidly evolving global race for critical resources. This initiative is driven by a combination of opportunity, uncertainty, and policy ambition that could ultimately determine whether the project succeeds or faces setbacks.
The government, through the Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs, has launched multiple tender processes offering various mineral blocks to investors. This marks a shift from a historically slow-moving sector to an aggressive commercialization drive. The requests for expressions of interest (EOIs) cover several minerals, including chromite in Samburu, rare earth elements and niobium in Kwale, copper in Tharaka Nithi, manganese in Tana River, and coltan in Embu counties.
This push to commercialize Kenya’s underground resources stems from a policy reset initiated in October 2023 when President William Ruto’s administration classified 14 minerals as strategic. This move was part of the conditions for lifting a four-year moratorium on the issuance of prospecting, mining, and trading licenses imposed in December 2019, effectively reopening the sector to investors under tighter regulatory oversight.
Strategic minerals are defined under the Mining (Strategic Minerals) Regulations, 2017, as those essential to Kenya’s economic, technological, or national security interests. The list includes cobalt, graphite, copper, tantalum, lithium, niobium, coltan, nickel, tin, and radioactive minerals such as uranium and thorium, alongside rare earth elements and chromite.
Tsavorite, one of the country’s most prized gemstones, was initially classified as a critical mineral before this rule was temporarily relaxed last year due to the National Mining Corporation’s lack of plans to deal with the mineral.
“The government, having declared strategic minerals in October 2023, continues to engage investors interested in exploring for these minerals on a one-by-one basis,” said Harry Kimtai in an earlier interview. “The capacity of the National Mining Corporation continues to be enhanced as the country races toward full exploitation of its abundant mineral resources.”
Strategic Minerals and Global Trends
The classification of minerals aligns Kenya with a global trend where countries are seeking to secure supply chains for minerals critical to clean energy technologies, electronics, and advanced manufacturing. However, unlike more established mining jurisdictions, Kenya is attempting to fast-track its entry into this space with limited geological certainty in some of the minerals on offer.
A closer look at the tender documents reveals that some projects are still in the early exploration stage, with no defined resource estimates. For example, the manganese project at Lali Hills in Tana River is described as a greenfield prospect whose resource has not been estimated. Similarly, the Kiritiri coltan project in Embu acknowledges that the current study is insufficient to produce figures defining a resource or reserve, though there is enough data to support the widespread occurrence of coltan in the area.
“This is further supported by continuous artisanal mining of coltan that has taken place in this area for a long time,” the ministry states in the tender documents. These disclosures highlight an effort to transfer early-stage exploration risk to private investors while leveraging global demand for strategic minerals to attract capital.
High-Risk, High-Reward Proposition
This strategy creates a high-risk, high-reward proposition for investors because early entry into underexplored regions can yield significant returns if commercial deposits are confirmed. However, the absence of reliable resource estimates increases uncertainty, lengthens project timelines, and raises capital requirements.
The risk profile is further compounded by the government’s policy stance on value addition and state participation. Across all five tenders, bidders are required to demonstrate the “ability to design and commission start-to-end on-site processing and beneficiation plant,” effectively ruling out business models based on raw mineral exports. This requirement reflects a shift toward domestic industrialization, aimed at capturing more value within Kenya’s economy.
Prospective investors must also show a “clear understanding of Kenya laws on free carry interest [non-dilutable equity share given to the government], and State involvement on strategic minerals,” signaling that the government intends to retain a stake in these projects.
Environmental and Social Governance
The tenders also emphasize environmental and social governance. Prospective firms will be required to demonstrate experience operating in “fragile ecosystems” and commit to measurable interventions such as land rehabilitation and water management. This reflects the geographical reality of many of the project sites, including parts of Samburu County and Tana River County, where ecosystems are sensitive, and communities have historically had limited exposure to large-scale mining.
The requirement for community engagement—ensuring that “social and economic benefits are shared”—also points to lessons drawn from past extractive projects, where local opposition has often emerged over perceived inequities.
Geophysical Surveys and Ongoing Verification
A key pillar underpinning the current tender round is a multibillion-shilling airborne geophysical survey conducted during the administration of former President Uhuru Kenyatta. Launched in 2018, the exercise tapped young professionals under the supervision of a National Intelligence Service-led security team to map the country’s mineral wealth amid concerns that sensitive data could fall into foreign private hands.
The findings of the survey were handed over to Mr. Kenyatta in June 2022, covering 96.5 percent of Kenya’s land mass and 56 percent of its water mass. Since then, geologists and geochemists from the ministry have extended the work on the ground, covering more than 30 counties to confirm mineral occurrences and assess their extent in an ongoing verification process.
Despite more than 50 years of mining activity, the sector’s large-scale activities have remained marginal, largely confined to soda ash, mineral sands, and titanium ores in Kwale, which were depleted in 2024. This is despite the country being widely believed to host significant deposits of copper, niobium, gold, manganese, and rare earth minerals that remain largely untapped, limiting the sector’s contribution to the economy.
The sector’s potential is estimated at more than $6.6 billion (about Sh858 billion), suggesting considerable room for growth if these resources are successfully developed.
