The Kenya mining cadastre portal, at portal.miningcadastre.go.ke, is the single online front door to Kenya’s mineral rights. According to the mining ministry’s own FAQ, applications are made online through the portal once you are registered as a user. Whether you want a reconnaissance licence over a large area, a prospecting licence over a gold target, a mining licence for a large project or a small-scale mining permit, you will create an account, draw your area and file through the Kenya mining cadastre portal.

Try it: Kenya mining licence and permit cost calculator →

The rules come from the Mining Act, 2016 (No. 12 of 2016), which replaced Kenya’s older mining law and required a computerised mining cadastre and registry with an online transactional facility. What follows uses the Act, the portal’s help pages and the State Department for Mining’s published FAQ. Where fees or practice may have changed, we say so.

“Kenya’s Mining Act sends 10% of mineral royalties to the community where mining takes place.”

Who decides: the mining ministry in Kenya, the Mineral Rights Board and the cadastre

Under the Mining Act, 2016, minerals are the property of the state. The ministry’s FAQ spells out what that means for landowners: owning land does not give you rights to the minerals under it. Mineral rights are granted by the Cabinet Secretary responsible for mining, and three parts of the system matter to applicants.

• The Cabinet Secretary and the State Department for Mining: the mining ministry in Kenya grants, refuses, renews and revokes mineral rights. It runs the Mining Cadastre Office in Works Building, Ngong Road, Nairobi.
• The Mineral Rights Board: set up under section 30. It advises the Cabinet Secretary in writing on the grant, rejection, renewal, suspension, revocation, variation and transfer of mineral rights. It also advises on areas suitable for small-scale and artisanal mining, areas where mining is excluded or restricted, strategic minerals, and fees, charges and royalties.
• The Mining Cadastre Office and registry: sections 191 and 192 require an up-to-date computerised mining cadastre and registry, including a public register of mineral rights and an online facility for applications and renewals. The Kenya mining cadastre portal is that facility.
• Other agencies: stamp duty on a mining licence is charged through the Ministry of Lands, and the Kenya Revenue Authority must be told about transfers of interests in mineral rights.

How the Kenya mining cadastre portal works

The Kenya mining cadastre portal runs on the Landfolio platform used by several African cadastres. It has a public side and a signed-in side, both described in the portal’s own help pages.

The public side: no login

• Mining Cadastre Map: an embedded map showing licences, applications and mineral dealings across the country.
• Help and FAQ pages explaining how to register and apply.
• Downloads, including the full text of the Mining Act, 2016.

The signed-in side: account required

• New applications for licences and permits.
• Managing existing licences, including reports and renewals.
• Declaring discoveries of minerals.
• Payments and account details.

Registering on the Kenya mining cadastre portal

There are two routes, depending on whether you already hold a licence.

1. New applicants self-register online. You upload identity documents and, where someone files on your behalf, letters of authority. The ministry then verifies the account before you can apply.
2. Existing licence holders register in person using form MCP01, so that their existing licences can be linked to the new account.

Using the Kenya mining cadastre portal for due diligence

Investors use the public map as much as applicants do. The Act makes the register of mineral rights a public document, recording each application, grant, assignment, transfer, surrender, suspension and cancellation. Before you sign a joint venture, option or share purchase over a Kenyan right, check these points on the Kenya mining cadastre portal:

• ✔ Licence number and type: is it a licence or a permit? A small-scale permit is limited to Kenyans and 60%-citizen companies, so a foreign buyer can’t simply step into it.
• Holder: does the holder on the register match the company you are dealing with?
• Boundary: does the area in the deal documents match the blocks on the map?
• ✔ Term and renewals: how many renewals has a prospecting licence already used? Only two are allowed.
• ⚠ Competing applications: the map also shows applications. Overlapping or neighbouring applications affect what the vendor can deliver.

Save dated screenshots of what the portal showed. Section 192 also lets an interested person inspect the cadastre on payment of a prescribed fee, which is the formal route if you need an official record.

If the Kenya mining cadastre portal is slow or unavailable, try again later or contact the Mining Cadastre Office rather than using a third-party copy. For comparisons with other African cadastres, see our mining cadastre portal guide by country.

If you already have an area in mind, you can get a satellite read on it while your account is verified. Draw it on mining.farmonaut.com (Map Your Mining Site), or send the coordinates through our mining query form for a quote.

Kenya mining licences and permits: which one do you need?

The Mining Act, 2016 has two tracks. Large-scale operators use licences. Small-scale and artisanal operators use permits, which are reserved for Kenyans. Mineral trading has its own dealing licences and permits. The table summarises the main instruments and the terms set in the Act.

Prospecting licence renewals

A prospecting licence can be renewed no more than twice, each time for up to three years. The Cabinet Secretary renews only where the holder shows compliance with the Act, and decides the area for which renewal is granted. The ministry must respond to a renewal application within 60 days. If a prospecting licence expires while the holder is waiting for a decision on a renewal, a retention licence or a mining licence, section 57 extends its term until the decision.

Small-scale and artisanal permits

Section 124 limits artisanal mining permits, prospecting permits and mining permits to Kenyan citizens, or to companies in which at least 60% of the shares are held by Kenyan citizens. A permit stops being valid if its holder becomes ineligible. A mining permit covers no more than two contiguous blocks, which keeps small-scale operations genuinely small. Our guide to artisanal mining licences and small-scale permits compares plot sizes and eligibility with other countries.

Which track you are on changes the bill by orders of magnitude. On the ministry’s published figures, a mining licence costs KShs 50,000 to apply for and at least KShs 500,000 a year in rent, while a small-scale mining permit costs KShs 1,000 and KShs 10,000 a year. The rent only rises above the minimum once a licence passes 250 hectares. Run your own area and term below.

Applying on the Kenya mining cadastre portal: steps and deadlines

Every application on the Kenya mining cadastre portal follows the same broad path, with decision deadlines set in the Act.

1. Register and get verified on the portal (or register in person with form MCP01 if you already hold a licence).
2. Search the Mining Cadastre Map for existing licences, applications and restricted areas over your target.
3. Select your blocks and prepare the application for the licence or permit you need.
4. Upload documents: identity or company papers, letters of authority, and the technical, financial, environmental and local-employment plans the Act requires for your licence type.
5. Pay the non-refundable application fee through the portal.
6. Complete the file within 90 days. The ministry’s FAQ says the Act gives a 90-day period for a complete application. The FAQ notes that the period can be extended where documentation is incomplete.
7. Wait for the decision. On the Mineral Rights Board’s recommendation, the Cabinet Secretary must approve or reject the application within 90 days for a prospecting or reconnaissance licence and within 120 days for a mining licence.
8. Accept the offer in writing, pay the fees and stamp duty due on grant, and manage the licence through your account.

What the Act asks for in a mining licence application

A mining licence application is the heaviest. Among other things, the Act asks for an environmental and social impact assessment and an environmental management plan. It also requires an approved plan to employ and train Kenyan citizens, together with whatever further information the Cabinet Secretary considers necessary. Prospecting and retention licence applications also include plans for the employment and training of Kenyans.

Local employment and training duties

Kenya builds local participation into the grant itself. Under section 46, every mineral right holder must submit a detailed programme for recruiting and training Kenyan citizens, and approval of that programme is a condition for the grant of the right. Section 47 then requires holders to give preference in employment to members of the local community and Kenyan citizens.

For large-scale operations the duties go further. Holders must run training and capacity-building programmes for employees. They may engage non-citizen technical experts only in line with local registration standards, and must work towards replacing non-citizen technical staff with Kenyans within a prescribed period. They must also link with universities for research. Every mineral right holder, and any agent, must also register an address in Kenya for official notices (section 45). Tanzania asks for something similar, an employment and training plan for citizens with every mining licence application, as our Tanzania mining cadastre portal guide explains.

Why Kenyan applications stall

• ⚠ Unverified portal account, or an existing holder who hasn’t registered in person with form MCP01.
• Missing training and employment programme. It is a condition of grant, not an optional attachment.
• No environmental and social impact assessment for a mining licence application.
• Ineligible applicant for a permit, for example a company with less than 60% citizen shareholding.
• Late response to a request for more information. The Act says the application is then rejected.
• ⚠ Overlapping blocks with existing licences or earlier applications, which lose to the first-come, first-served rule.

Kenya is not unusual in rewarding speed. Nigeria also gives priority to the first application received in proper form, which is why our Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office guide puts so much weight on choosing cells before you file.

Kenya mining licence fees, rent and state participation

The State Department for Mining publishes indicative fees in its FAQ. The figures below are from that page as checked in September 2026. Fees are revised by regulation and the FAQ is where a revised schedule would appear, so confirm it and the portal before you pay.

For mineral trading, the FAQ lists KShs 20,000 for a mineral dealing licence and KShs 2,000 for a mineral dealing permit, both valid for a calendar year. A dealing permit is for domestic trade only. Dealing licences are issued by mineral category (precious metals, gemstones, base metals, or construction and industrial minerals), so a trader in more than one category needs more than one licence.

The rent rule has a kink in it. Below 250 hectares, KShs 2,000 a hectare comes to less than KShs 500,000, so the minimum applies and a 50-hectare licence pays the same rent as a 250-hectare one. Above that the rent climbs in a straight line: KShs 1 million at 500 hectares and KShs 2 million at 1,000.

State participation and local listing

Section 48 gives the state a 10% free carried interest in the share capital of large-scale mining operations and operations involving strategic minerals, with no financial contribution from the state. Further state participation can be agreed at arm’s length. Section 49 adds a local-equity rule. A mining licence holder whose planned capital expenditure exceeds a prescribed threshold must list at least 20% of its equity on a local stock exchange within three years after production begins.

Where royalties go

Royalty rates are set by regulation, so confirm them for your mineral. The Act fixes how royalties are shared:

“A Kenyan prospecting licence can cover up to 1,500 contiguous cadastre blocks.”

Before you apply: make sure the blocks are worth the rent

The Kenya mining cadastre portal will tell you which blocks are open. It won’t tell you which ones are prospective. With first-come, first-served allocation, prospecting licences that must show compliance to be renewed, and rent charged by the hectare on mining licences, the blocks you select at step 3 shape your costs for years.

That is where satellite analysis fits. Our satellite-based mineral detection analyses multispectral and hyperspectral imagery of your area. Each mineral and alteration zone reflects energy in its own spectral signature. We use that to flag likely mineralised target zones, alteration halos and structures such as faults and fractures, without anyone going on to the land.

• ✔ Input you already have: the coordinates, KML/KMZ or polygon of the blocks you plan to apply for, plus the target mineral.
• Speed: reports arrive in 5–20 business days, depending on area and mineral complexity. That can fit inside the time it takes to get your portal account verified.
• Deliverables: prospectivity heatmaps, high-potential zones with estimated location and depth ranges, geological interpretation, and PDF plus georeferenced GIS files. Premium+ adds TargetMax™ drilling intelligence and 3D subsurface models.
• Cost and time: satellite screening can cut early-exploration costs by up to 80–85% and shorten timelines from months to days, compared with starting on the ground.
• ⚠ Limitation: satellite targets are exploration targets, not a mineral resource. They tell you where to sample and drill first, and field work confirms them.

See a sample deliverable in the satellite-driven 3D mineral prospectivity mapping overview. We have scanned 100,000+ hectares for 20+ mineral types across 25+ countries.

A Kenya mining cadastre portal pre-application checklist

1. Choose the right instrument: licence for large-scale work, permit for small-scale (Kenyans and 60%-citizen companies only).
2. Register on the Kenya mining cadastre portal and upload ID and letters of authority, or use form MCP01 if you already hold a licence.
3. Search the Mining Cadastre Map and note neighbouring licences and pending applications.
4. Screen prospectivity over your draft area and keep only the strongest blocks.
5. Prepare the plans the Act requires: technical, financial, environmental and the plan to employ and train Kenyans.
6. Budget beyond the application fee: annual rent or permit fees, stamp duty, royalties and reporting.
7. File complete, and diary every deadline: 90 days to complete the application, and renewal windows before expiry.

Key terms on the Kenya mining cadastre portal

Block

The cadastre cell that licence and permit areas are built from. A prospecting licence can cover up to 1,500 contiguous blocks; a mining permit no more than two.

Mineral Rights Board

The statutory board that advises the Cabinet Secretary on granting, renewing, transferring and revoking mineral rights, and on fees and royalties.

Form MCP01

The form existing licence holders use to register in person on the portal, so their licences can be linked to an online account.

Retention licence

A licence that lets a holder keep an area for up to two years, renewable once, under section 87.

Free carried interest

The state’s 10% share in large-scale mining operations, for which it pays nothing.

First-come, first-served

The rule in section 56 that applications are processed and decided in the order they arrive.

Frequently asked questions

Reviewed September 2026 against the Mining Act, 2016 as published on the Mining Cadastre Portal, the portal’s help pages and the State Department for Mining’s FAQ at mining.go.ke.

Licence types, terms, deadlines, state participation and royalty sharing in this guide come from the Mining Act, 2016 (No. 12 of 2016) as published on the Mining Cadastre Portal. Portal features, registration steps and fees come from the portal’s help pages and the State Department for Mining’s FAQ. Fees and royalty rates are set by regulation and change, so confirm the current position with the Mining Cadastre Office before you file or pay. This guide is general information, not legal or investment advice.