Terra Industries wins $1 million contract to secure Kaduna gold and lithium mining site
Key Takeaways
- •The phase-one contract covers autonomous surveillance and site protection at Anka Metals’ Jema’a project in Gidan Waya.
- •Terra’s ArtemisOS platform integrates aerial and ground vehicles with fixed sentry towers and a centralized threat-monitoring dashboard.
- •The agreement is the first step in a security partnership intended to cover Anka Metals’ wider portfolio as additional assets become operational.
- •Terra raised $52 million in seed funding in August and says it is targeting more than $100 million in contracts by the end of 2026.
Terra Industries has secured a $1 million contract from Anka Metals to provide security for the Jema’a Resource Project, a multi-metallic mining site in Kaduna State’s Gidan Waya area that contains deposits of gold, lithium, copper and nickel.
The Nigerian defence-tech company said the agreement is the first contract under a broader security partnership covering Anka Metals’ full mining portfolio.
Under the phase-one contract, Terra will deploy autonomous surveillance and site-protection systems powered by ArtemisOS, its proprietary command-and-control software platform. The partnership is structured to expand to Anka Metals’ other mining assets as they come online.
ArtemisOS coordinates Terra’s hardware fleet, including Iroko, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used for aerial surveillance; Duma, an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV); and fixed sentry towers. The platform sends real-time footage and threat detections to a central operations dashboard.
The company said the same technology stack supports deployments supplied to defence and government clients.
Security needs around Kaduna’s mining assets
The Jema’a Resource Project is located within one of Nigeria’s closely watched mineral regions. In July, the project and the Kaduna Mining Development Company signed a $500 million financing and development framework with the Africa Finance Corporation covering mining assets across the state.
Kaduna State was the first in Nigeria to secure such a partnership through a state-owned mining company, according to Anka Metals chief executive Nere Emiko.
Terra said mining, oil and power operators across Africa often operate critical assets in areas with limited security coverage and long emergency response times. The company said its commercial division was established to address that gap.
The Anka Metals agreement follows a separate $2 million security deal Terra closed with two undisclosed lithium mining operators earlier this month, days after launching its commercial division on 28 August.
Terra Industries was founded in 2024 by Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka to build an autonomous defence-industrial base for Africa and the wider Global South.
In August, the company closed a $52 million seed round, its largest funding round to date. The round was backed by investors including 8VC, Lux Capital, Silent Ventures and SV Angel. Terra also appointed former SpaceX executive Ben MacWilliams as vice president of strategy and opened its first office outside Africa in London.
Before launching its commercial division, Terra said its technology had already been deployed to protect power plants, mines and other critical assets valued at roughly $11 billion across multiple African countries.
Its product range includes long- and mid-range drones, autonomous sentry towers, unmanned ground vehicles and maritime surveillance systems, all coordinated through ArtemisOS. The company says it is on track to book more than $100 million in contracts by the end of 2026.
The Anka Metals contract expands Terra’s presence into Kaduna’s emerging solid-minerals sector as the state positions itself as a hub for Africa Finance Corporation-backed mineral investment.
