London listed Marula Mining’s subsidiary Muchai Mining Kenya has signed a deal with Baosteel Resources South Africa, a subsidiary of the world’s biggest steel producer, to purchase and sell manganese ore from the Kilifi manganese processing plant.
In the contract that began on 1st March 2025, Marula will supply manganese from its Kilifi Manganese Processing Plant, scaling from 5,000 to 20,000 tonnes per month.Muchai Mining will handle mining, loading process and transportation to the designated handover destination while Baosteel Resources will handle export and sales logistics.Baosteel Resources is a wholly owned subsidiary of state-owned China Baowu Steel Group – the world’s largest steel producer.
“This is a landmark agreement for Marula and the Kilifi Manganese Processing Plant,” Jason Brewer, CEO of Marula Mining said. “It marks a significant milestone for the Company as we look to establish broad and long-term international partnerships, expand our mining and processing operations and enhance our profile with key industry players.”
Each monthly delivery will form a separate sale and purchase contract, with a provisional payment of 90% upon delivery and the balance after final quality and quantity certifications. The pricing will be based on China Ferroalloy Online index rates with provisional and final settlement mechanisms, incorporating product quality, moisture, grade adjustments, and market-based revisions including standard agency fees and costs.
Further, a contractual performance bond mechanism will ensure secure transactions and accommodate price fluctuations.
“We continue to work with key stakeholders here in Kenya and overseas to continue developing and growing Marula’s battery and critical metals portfolio to production and with sales targeting the international markets,” Brewer added.
Marula has operations in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe with projects extracting rare earths, tantalum, lithium, niobium, and phosphate across its operational mines. In May 2023, the company established a subsidiary in Nairobi, Muchai Mining Kenya, to explore mining opportunities in copper and graphite.In early 2024, the company announced plans to list on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
Baosteel Resources is an independently operated African regional supply chain company for China Baowu and is mainly engaged in the trading of mineral resources such as iron ore, coal, chrome ore, manganese ore, nickel ore, copper concentrate, zinc concentrate, bauxite, and lithium ore.