The United States is seeking to deploy American technology in Kenya’s critical minerals sector as Washington moves to deepen cooperation with Nairobi on mineral extraction, refining and value addition.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Frank Garcia said the approach would focus on providing American technologies rather than having the United States directly take over mining operations.
Garcia made the remarks during a fireside chat hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Friday, September 18, where he discussed U.S.-Africa commercial diplomacy and the growing importance of critical minerals.
He said he discussed Kenya’s mining sector with President William Ruto during his visit to Kenya the previous week, describing the development of the sector as an important area of cooperation between Washington and Nairobi.
“The United States made a decision early on that we weren’t necessarily going to be the miners, but we were going to be the technology leaders in going after the minerals,” Garcia said.
According to Garcia, the U.S. has spent the past 10 to 15 years developing technologies for mineral extraction and refining and is now seeking to deploy some of those technologies in African countries.
He said the approach could help African countries retain more value from their mineral resources by expanding local processing instead of exporting raw ores for processing elsewhere.
“That’s what our African partners want. They want the value addition,” Garcia said.
Garcia also highlighted technologies capable of recovering multiple minerals through a single extraction process, saying such systems could increase the value generated from deposits containing several commercially useful minerals.
He cited an ongoing tender in an unnamed African country involving a U.S. company seeking to deploy such technology, but did not identify the country or link the tender specifically to Kenya.
The remarks come as Kenya and the United States pursue discussions on a proposed critical minerals partnership, with cooperation focusing on investment, local processing and strengthening mineral value chains.