By Ammu Kannampilly
NAIROBI, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Engineering giant Fluor Corp is among a group of mostly US investors vying to develop Kenya's Mrima Hill critical minerals deposit, after two Chinese companies pulled out of the process, Kenya's mining minister told Reuters on Friday.
A final decision would be announced within three weeks, he said.
Reuters is first to report Fluor Corp's bid, the timing of the final announcement and the withdrawal of the Chinese companies — Hunan Research Institute for
Nonferrous Metals and Jinan Yuxiao Group Co. Ltd.
US President Donald Trump has made securing access to critical minerals a priority of his administration, inking deals with a number of African nations as Washington looks to cut dependence on top producer China, which dominates the global supply chain and has tightened export controls in recent years.
China is also a dominant player in Africa's mining industry.
Kenya's mining minister Hassan Ali Joho said that five contenders had submitted tenders on October 21 for the Mrima Hill deposit in southern Kenya, around 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the port city of Mombasa. They include two US consortia, one US-affiliated consortium, an Australian consortium and a Kenyan-British joint venture.
"American entities have strongly showcased or demonstrated interest by participating in our transparent process in identifying the developer of Mrima Hill," Joho said in an interview.
"Within the next two, three weeks we should be able to award Mrima Hills to the successful bidder."
Joho said preliminary indicators suggested that the coastal deposit contains tens of billions of dollars' worth of rare earth minerals and niobium, a metal used in aerospace manufacturing with deposits primarily mined in Brazil and Canada.
CHINESE FIRMS SAID TO HAVE SUBMITTED OTHER BIDS
The two US consortia are Meridian Mineral Holdings, which includes Fluor Corp and Tetra Tech, and Frontier Minerals LLC, which includes rare earths startup ReElement Technologies. Joho also said a US-affiliated consortium called Mrima Earth was on the shortlist, led by Critical Metals Corp, which is pursuing the Tanbreez rare earth project in Greenland.
A Kenyan-British joint venture called Gem of Dreams also submitted a tender, as has Australia's RareX in a tie-up with Iluka Resources.
A representative for the Australian joint venture said they had no comment to make on the story. The other four consortia and the Chinese companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Joho said he did not know the reason for the Chinese firms' withdrawal, adding that the Kenyan government did not directly engage with the bidders.
"We haven't had any conversation with anybody and we haven't offered any alternative to anybody... We want a transparent process," he said.
Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters that the Chinese firms had bid for other state mining projects in Kenya on the same day that the Mrima Hill tender was due last week. It was not immediately clear which projects received bids but both sources said four other tenders for coltan, manganese, copper and chromite projects were due that day.
Joho told Reuters that one of the Chinese companies did file a bid for another project the same day, but declined to elaborate, saying it would compromise the process.
He said Kenya had faced "no pressure" from either Beijing or Washington on the issue.
"I don't think it is in the place of anybody to tell us on how and who to work with. Our decisions purely are informed on the interest of this country."
US BACKING AMERICAN MINING INVESTMENTS
African nations have pushed in recent years to process more of the minerals they produce domestically, marking a shift toward keeping more value on the continent.
Kenya's President William Ruto told Reuters in June that his government was close to signing a critical minerals deal with the United States, under which Nairobi would process its own resources domestically.
Officials in the Trump administration have also said the US intends to help Kenya develop a critical minerals processing industry.
A US State Department spokesperson told Reuters that US companies had proven track records and a commitment to local processing.
"The US Government will take every opportunity to help American businesses invest in emerging sectors and developing economies, including the mining sector," the spokesperson said.
Ruto has previously said that Kenya would not choose between Washington and Beijing, but instead pursue multiple partnerships aligned with its own economic priorities.
In addition to rare earths and niobium, Kenya is also believed to have large untapped deposits of lithium, graphite, copper and nickel.
(Reporting by Ammu Kannampilly; Additional reporting by Amy Lv in Shanghai; editing by Silvia Aloisi and Susan Fenton)
