Kwale, Kenya
Tuesday, November 11, 2025
By Mary KULUNDU
Near the Kenyan coast, five small villages and a forest find themselves unwittingly at the heart of a global geostrategic game involving China and the United States, among others, as the soil in which they are rooted is rich in rare earths.
Mrima Hill, a pretty wooded hill near the Tanzanian border, has recently seen a succession of foreign visitors. This is because it contains significant reserves of niobium, a mineral used to strengthen steel.
The site is small, covering a total of around 3.6 km2. However, in 2013, the deposit on which it sits was valued at $62.4 billion (around €47 billion at the time) by Cortec Mining Kenya, a subsidiary of British companies and the Canadian firm Pacific Wildcat Resources.
As global competition for access to rare earths intensifies, former US Chargé d’Affaires in Kenya Marc Dillard visited the site in June, according to several villagers interviewed by AFP, which was confirmed by the US diplomatic mission in Nairobi.
Washington has made securing critical minerals a central part of its diplomacy in Africa, hoping to compete with China’s near-monopoly in this strategic sector
The White House is particularly pleased to have reached a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo—a country extremely rich in mineral resources, even though violence continues in the east.
– “Big cars” –
Shortly before the US representative’s visit, an Australian consortium made an offer in April to exploit rare earth minerals. Chinese nationals have also recently attempted to visit the area, which is attracting land speculators, according to Juma Koja, a community guardian.
“People come here in big cars (…), but we turn them away,” he told AFP, whose team was also initially denied access to the forest. “I don’t want my people to be exploited,” he said.
The guardian fears irreversible environmental damage, including the loss of unique native trees such as the large orchid, which is already threatened even though mining has not yet begun. “In my heart, I cry” at the thought, he said.
The lush forest, rich in medicinal plants, is also home to sacred shrines and has long provided sustenance for the population, although more than half of them now live in extreme poverty, according to government data.
The local community is particularly concerned about being evicted as a result of niobium mining, from which they would gain nothing.
“Where will they take us?” worries Mohammed Riko, 64, vice president of the Mrima Hill Forest Community Association. “Mrima is our life.”
In 2019, Kenya imposed a nationwide ban on new mining licenses due to concerns about corruption and environmental degradation, a ban that it has gradually relaxed since then.
With China increasingly limiting its own exports of rare earths, Nairobi now sees opportunities to be seized.
– “Dying poor” –
The Kenyan Ministry of Mines announced “bold reforms” this year, including tax breaks and increased transparency in licensing, aimed at attracting investors and growing the sector from 0.8% of GDP to 10% by 2030.
But Kenya lacks accurate data on its soils, according to Daniel Weru Ichang’i, retired professor of economic geology at the University of Nairobi.
“There is a romantic view of mining, which is seen as an industry where money is easy to make. We need to come back down to earth,” he observes.
Corruption, which is widespread in Kenya, “makes this sector, which is already very high-risk, less attractive” to potential investors, Daniel Weru Ichang’i continues.
In 2013, Kenya revoked Cortec Mining Kenya’s mining license, citing environmental and licensing irregularities. The company claims that it was punished for refusing to pay a bribe to the then Minister of Mines, which the latter denies. It lost its appeal before an international court.
Domitilla Mueni, treasurer of the Mrima Hill Association, still hopes for significant benefits. She herself has planted trees on her land and cultivated it—in order to maximize profits in case mining companies want to buy it.
She asks, “Why should we die poor when we have minerals?”
Humaniterre with AFP
