Ethiopia grants sovereign wealth fund a licence to mine Danakil potash

Ethiopian Investment Holdings, the country's sovereign wealth fund, signed a commercial-scale potash mining licence with Ethiopia's Ministry of Mines on 13 March 2026, covering a 365 square kilometre concession in the Dallol area of the Danakil Depression, in the Afar Regional State. EIH chief executive Brook Taye and mining minister Habtamu Tegene signed the agreement at the ministry's headquarters, following an application EIH first submitted in July 2025.

A vast, largely untapped basin

The Danakil Depression, one of the hottest and lowest-lying places on earth, is estimated to hold between 11 billion and 12 billion tonnes of potash-bearing salt beds, making it one of the largest potential sources of potash anywhere in the world. Despite that scale, the basin has seen only limited commercial development to date, hampered by its remoteness, extreme heat and, in the past, security concerns in the surrounding Afar region. Under the new venture, EIH will hold a 40% equity stake alongside Nigeria's Dangote Group, which holds the remaining 60%, in what Ethiopian officials have described as one of the largest industrial investments in the country's history.

Why it matters

Potash is a key input for phosphate and blended fertilisers, and African governments have increasingly sought to develop domestic potash supply both to reduce reliance on imports and to capture export revenue as global fertiliser demand grows with rising food security concerns. Ethiopia's move to bring a large, well-capitalised partner in Dangote onto a sovereign-controlled concession mirrors a broader pattern across the region of pairing state ownership with foreign industrial expertise, rather than granting exploration rights to smaller, less-resourced juniors.

What happens next

The licence signing formalises the legal basis for development but does not, on its own, confirm construction timelines, capital costs, or production targets for the Dallol concession. Those details are expected to follow as EIH and Dangote progress technical studies on a resource whose scale is well documented but whose commercial development has never previously matched its geological promise.

Sources

• The Reporter Ethiopia: Investment Holdings Secures Potash Concession In Danakil, 13 Mar 2026
• Addis Insight: Ethiopia Moves to Unlock Potash Wealth as Ethiopian Investment Holdings Signs Mining Deal, 13 Mar 2026

Photo: The Dallol area of Ethiopia's Danakil Depression, site of a newly licensed potash concession. Barrowbob, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.