Kenya and United States near agreement to build critical mineral processing plants

Kenya’s mining minister Hassan Ali Joho announced that negotiations with U.S. officials on a critical-minerals partnership have reached a “very advanced” stage, focusing on building refineries and processing facilities that would partly serve the United States. He said the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense and State are all participating, and that off-taker arrangements and market interests are being hashed out. Joho outlined the incentives Kenya would provide, including special economic zones, port access, infrastructure support and tax concessions.

The partnership is tied to the pending Mrima Hill bidding process, where six firms—including American, Australian and Chinese companies—are competing for a coastal deposit expected to hold billions of dollars in rare-earth minerals such as niobium, cobalt, copper and nickel. Kenya currently derives about 1% of its GDP from mining, but aims to raise that share to 10% within ten years as part of President William Ruto’s industrialisation drive.