By Martha Agas
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, says investors should consider Nigeria’s mining sector to take advantage of seamless profit transfers and duty waivers on imported mining machinery.
Alake, at the Resourcing Tomorrow Annual Exhibition and Conference held in London, told global mining companies that the country was ready for investment in the sector.
This is contained in a statement issued by the Minister`s Special Adviser, Kehinde Bamigbetan, on Tuesday in Abuja.
Alake said Nigeria had made significant strides in its mineral sector, highlighting investment breakthroughs in mineral processing, including over 2 billion dollars in inflows to lithium and rare earth ore projects over the past two years.
The foreign direct investments, he argued, were the outcomes of the policy on value addition being driven by President Bola Tinubu administration to stop pit to port export and stimulate local beneficiation.
“Since last year, companies such as Canmax Technologies, Jiuling Lithium, Avatar New Energy Nigeria Limited, and Asba group have collectively invested over 1.3 billion dollars in lithium processing projects across Nigeria.
“These are not speculative ventures; they are bricks, mortar, and machinery, “ Alake said.
He said that in the outskirts of Abuja, construction was underway for $50-million Lithium processing plant, the first in a network of industrial clusters that would extend through Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara, and Ebonyi.
He added that in November, Nigeria achieved a major milestone in rare earth ore processing with the groundbreaking of the 400 million dollars Hasetins Group plant.
“It is expected to be ready in 15 months. Also, a multi- billion dollar iron ore to steel project using the latest technology is in the pipeline,“ he said.
The minister said that, to secure mining sites and enforce regulations, Tinubu’s administration established the Mining Marshals and was enhancing this security framework with satellite technology to monitor operations nationwide
According to him, the Nigeria Solid Minerals Company(NSMC) established by the current administration leverages on mineral assets inherited from the Nigerian Mining Corporation to meet partners’ demands.
He said the NSMC embodies a philosophy of shared prosperity through joint investment, acting as a sovereign partner by co-investing in high-value mineral projects, mitigating exploration risks, and promoting downstream processing.
The government, he said, had taken necessary steps to prepare the solid minerals sector for investment, including covering more than 80 percent of the country with geological mapping.
Alake added that it had also finalised the Solid Minerals Export Guidelines to align the country’s export system with international standards for traceability, environmental protection, and governance.
The minister also cited the signing of 427 community development agreements between Nigerian communities and mining companies as a key strategy to ensure that economic, social and governance principles were applied in Nigeria’s mining sector.
