US eyes Kenya for major minerals deal following Ksh8.1 trillion Mrima Hill tender
US eyes Kenya for major minerals deal following Ksh8.1 trillion Mrima Hill tender
The United States has formally invited Kenya into a multibillion-dollar critical minerals partnership, months after Kenya opened a competitive tender for the Mrima Hill rare earth deposit in Kwale County.
This announcement was made by US Chargé d’Affaires Susan Burns, who delivered the proposal during the Kenya Mining Investment Conference and Expo 2026, before President William Ruto urged Kenya to join a new preferential trade zone for critical minerals.
“Decisions made in forums like this will determine whether African countries capitalise on the tremendous economic value of your mineral wealth, or whether opportunity slips away due to market manipulation and concentrated supply chains,” Burns told the delegation.
The preferential trade zone is a mineral framework designed by the US to be a protected critical minerals by enforcing price thresholds and adjustable tariffs meant to shield minerals-rich nations from market manipulation.
This framework, as per Burns, is one that Kenya cannot afford to miss out, stating, “Washington is extending an invitation to Kenya and regional countries, join us in building this preferential trade zone.”
Burns said the global minerals market is currently failing on every front, unable to create sustainable investment, support dignified jobs, or keep nations secure, a problem that the US says it is now determined to fix through concrete action and enforceable agreements.
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She described a pattern that has “repeatedly killed promising mining projects across Africa,” where financing gets arranged, a project is announced, then foreign supply floods the market overnight, prices collapse, and the investment dies before a single tonne of ore is extracted.
She highlighted that President Donald Trump’s administration has already mobilised USD100 billion, approximately Ksh12.19 trillion, through the Office of Strategic Capital and has permitted mining timelines from 29 years to under one year in some cases.
Burns added that the US has taken equity stakes in mining companies, something the government has never done before, and facilitated over USD10 billion, roughly Ksh1.3 trillion- the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) being on the frontlines in this deal.
The timing of the US pitch is significant, coming amid the Ministry of Mining and Blue Economy’s March 27 opening of a competitive tender for the Mrima Hill deposit in Kwale County, one of the most valuable untapped mineral deposits on the planet.
Mrima Hill is estimated to hold mineral wealth valued at approximately Ksh8.1 trillion, with deposits of niobium, rare earth elements, and other materials critical to modern technology, clean energy infrastructure, and global defense industries attracting interest from major world powers.
With China widely expected to be among the bidders, the Mrima Hill tender has effectively become a front-row seat in a larger geopolitical contest, one in which Kenya now holds significant leverage as Washington and Beijing compete for access to its mineral resources.
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