Kenya has announced the discovery of significant deposits of coltan, a rare mineral used in the manufacture of cell phones, laptops and other electronic devices, in six counties of the East African country.

"It is now official. We have coltan deposits in the country, and we want to see how we can inspire the investors," Mining and Blue Economy Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya said on Wednesday (January 24), Business Daily reports.

The minister revealed that so far 970 mineral occurrences have been noted across Kenya, adding that mining would kick off soon and laboratories will be decentralised to counties for easier testing of minerals.

"We shall be setting up laboratories services in eight regions where we shall be testing samples and declaring the quality of minerals found in a particular region," he said.

Mvurya also vowed to “weed out” illegal miners of coltan, the vast majority of which is found in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "We want mining to be a business where investors comply with all aspects of the law," he said, noting that the cabinet has established a special unit to enforce compliance.

Coltan, short for columbite-tantalite, itself contains technology minerals tantalum and niobium, concentrates of which Brazil, Canada and Australia are the leading producers.

The DRC is the global leader in tantalum production by quite a large margin while the third largest miner is Rwanda. In both African countries, coltan is generally mined via artisanal operations.