We have needed mineral resources to power electric cars, phones in Nigeria ,the Minister of Mines and Steel Development , Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite has revealed.
He gave this revelation during one of the investors forum at the just concluded Mining Conference in Riyadh Saudi, urged the majors to make a stake in the Nigerian Mining sector, which he noted was one of the most investor friendly in the world.
Adegbite in a statement by his media aide Ayodeji Adeyemi which a copy was made to newsmen in Abuja equally hinted that some major Mining companies had began to express interest in the Nigerian Mining sector.
According to the statement; he also disclosed that the country intends to auction rights to mine some strategic minerals later this year.
“We have strengthened governance and transparency in the sector and provided assurance to investors through the upgrade, automation, and decentralization of the Mining Cadastre Office (MCO); We are improving the connectivity between investors and the public with important geological information through the establishment of a Nigeria Geo-Data Centre at the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency” Adegbite said.
The minister also noted that the country had learnt its lessons from over 50 years of resource extraction. “As we deepen our efforts to revitalize the mining sector, we are doing so with lessons learnt from a half-century of resource extraction. We recognize, for instance, that it is not enough to seek investments merely for the sake of exploitation and extraction.
Rather than writing this new chapter of economic growth, our aim is to develop local industries, generate employment, and focus on resource beneficiation to create wealth along the mineral value chain.
Addressing some foreign media organizatios , the minister noted that the federal government had invested $50 million to explore gold, lithium and several other metals.
Adegbite said that: “To date the country has discovered over 44 minerals occuring in commercial quantities across the 36 states and the federal capital Territory. These include gold, lithium, copper, cobalt, oxide, amongst others”.
