Ethiopia is seeking to attract gold from Kenya and other neighbouring countries to its new refinery, as American, Chinese and Australian investors compete to develop Kenya’s Mrima Hills mineral deposits in Kwale County.
Ethiopia opened its National Precious Metals Refinery on October 10 following a $50 million (Ksh6.48 billion) investment by state-owned Ethiopian Investment Holdings and Dubai-based Sam Precious Metal.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the refinery would allow neighbouring countries to process gold within Africa instead of exporting it overseas.
“It enables neighbouring countries and regional mining companies to bring their gold to Ethiopia for advanced refining, certification, value addition, and sale, eliminating the need to export it outside the continent,” Abiy wrote on X.
A photo collage of President Donald Trump (US) and Xi Jinping (China) with Mrima Hills in Kwale in the background, October 26, 2025.
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Kenyans.co.ke
Keith Nare, director at the Africa Gold Council, identified Kenya, Uganda and Sudan as potential customers for the refinery, according to Forbes Africa.
Kenya, meanwhile, is seeking investors to develop Mrima Hills, which contains niobium and rare earth elements used in electronics and advanced manufacturing.
In September, Mining CS Hassan Joho said Kenya and the United States were in advanced talks on a critical minerals partnership that could lead to processing plants and refineries being established locally.
Washington has offered to support Kenya in developing its critical minerals processing industry as the U.S. seeks to diversify supply chains dominated by China.
This comes even as Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for African countries to retain control of their mineral resources and urged foreign powers not to turn the continent’s deposits into tools of geopolitical rivalry.
At the same time, an Australian-led consortium involving RareX and Iluka Resources has also advanced in the Mrima Hills tender process.
Its proposal includes initial processing in Kenya, with rare earth concentrate transported to Iluka’s refinery in Western Australia for further processing.
The Kenyan government is yet to clarify whether it would consider processing its gold in Ethiopia, whose new refinery targets an annual capacity of 600 tonnes of gold and silver.
An aerial view of a section of the Mrima Hill Forest in Lunga-Lunga, Kwale county on September 26, 2025.
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AFP