FG will establish 6 mineral mining centers across Nigeria to revive mining

Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake

The federal government has announced plans to establish six mineral centers in the country’s six geopolitical zones to boost the mining sector.

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday.

Alake said the plan was in line with the commitment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to diversify the country’s economy through the development of key sectors such as the solid minerals industry.

According to the Minister, the centers are also part of the government’s commitment to promoting added value to minerals, which is intended to facilitate the multiplier effect in the economy.

Stressing that the country’s mineral resources are spread across the country, the Minister of Solid Minerals said:

“We have our minerals all over the country and we cannot concentrate mineral processing centers in one area, and at the moment these plans are being implemented in zones.”

New mining policy

Alake added that the government has developed a new policy aimed at ensuring Nigeria makes maximum use of all minerals mined in the country. According to him, investors in the past extracted mineral resources from Nigeria without adding value to them, which he described as a great loss to the country’s economy.

“Lithium is one of the most wonderful substances in the world and contains other related minerals such as nickel, cobalt and copper.

“So when an operator exports an ounce of our lithium from Nigeria, they may be declaring it to be lithium. But when he reaches the host country, he now has other minerals linked to his profit and Nigeria’s loss.

“So our main policy that we have adopted is that from now on we will no longer accept applications from an investor who does not provide us with a concrete plan to increase local value. “Which means processing to add local value and this will generate multiplier effects such as local employment, technology and skills transfer.” he said.

He said the move is in line with plans to locally produce electric vehicle (EV) batteries in Nigeria, the main ingredient of which is lithium. The minister said the local value addition policy has also been widely accepted by other African countries with the aim of developing the local economy.

What you should know

In March this year, the Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, revealed the government’s plans to establish an indigenous lithium battery factory in Nigeria. According to him, the move is aimed at reducing Nigeria’s dependence on foreign production and supporting local production of essential energy storage components.

Meanwhile, the African Development Bank (AfDB), in its revised economic outlook for 2024, said Nigeria has the potential to lead lithium-ion battery production in Africa.

The bank noted that this potential is real thanks to the discovery of over 3,000 lithium pegmatite bodies in Nigeria.