The federal government has said imminent reforms in the mining industry will separate genuine businessmen interested in long-term and value-added investment from adventurers carting away raw minerals.
Addressing the Mining ministers forum at the China Mining Week 2023 held in Tianji, China, on Thursday, Oladele Alake, minister of Solid Minerals Development, said the new mineral development roadmap of the Federal Government would solve the lingering problems of the sector.
According to a statement issued by Alaba Balogun, the ministry’s head of press department, the proposed Nigerian Solid Minerals Development Company will mobilise domestic and international capital and technology to raise the industrial capacity of the sector.
Alake in the statement, stressed on the importance of geological data to mining finance and exploration, adding the Tinubu administration will invest massively in critical data to make it easier to attract investors to the sector while putting in place social and governance standards to protect the environment.
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“The government is currently engaging artisanal miners to join co-operatives to formalise labour and small enterprises in the sector to widen access to training, extension services, machinery and credit,” it stated.
He assured investors of an orderly industrial environment, adding that the new security architecture for the sector will combine the formal agencies of enforcement with community safety organs to combat threats and protect miners.
Allaying the fears of interferences in mining operations by sub-national agencies, Alake said the Tinubu administration has developed cordial relations between the federal and state governments and the ministry recently hosted the governors’ forum to resolve pertinent issues.
He advised prospective investors to include the industrial processing of minerals in their business plans adding that a new regime of compulsory value addition as investment condition will soon be in place.
