The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Solid minerals

  • National Assembly begins process of solid minerals bills

    A member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Emmanuel Egwu (APC-Kogi) on Thursday said the National Assembly would commence the consideration of Bills for the management of solid minerals in the country.

    Egwu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that there were more than one Bill on the issue and that both chambers of the assembly were currently processing the bills before them.

    He said that the bills were aimed at ensuring proper coordination of activities of the solid minerals sector to make it viable enough to generate huge revenue for the country.

    He said that when there was fall in oil price or disruption in production of oil, the nation often suffered losses because price and volume went together.

    Egwu added that “even if the price of oil is high, as high as 100 dollars per barrel and we cannot produce enough, it is still a problem, just like what is happening in the Niger Delta today.’’

    He therefore said that there was the need to process the Bills in order to strengthen sources of diversification of the economy.

    “We should diversify to areas that would be of immense benefit and as urgent as possible to improve on the values of the country,” Egwu added.

    He called for a well-coordinated solid mineral sector, adding that an agency could be engaged to handle such assignment effectively.

    He said that the job of the agency would include coordinating the exploration all minerals available in the country and exportation, explaining that it was necessary to avoid situation where items were produced but could not be exported.

    “When there is more attention from government and assistance to those interested in exporting, I think it will assist Federal Government a lot,” the lawmaker said.

     

  • Kwara seeks 13 per cent derivation from solid minerals

    Kwara seeks 13 per cent derivation from solid minerals

    The Kwara State government has said the state should be included among beneficiaries of 13 per cent derivation fund from solid minerals.

    Commissioner for Industry and Solid Minerals Development Hajia Funmilayo Oniwa spoke in Ilorin at the stakeholders’ forum by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAC).

    Hajia Oniwa, who listed about 17 mineral resources in the state, queried the state’s exclusion as an investment destination for solid minerals development by the Nigeria Mining and Metal Sector Investment Promotion in its August brochure.

    She said the state contributed to the development of the solid minerals sector as a veritable source of revenue generation into the federation account.

    Oniwa noted that such a document ought to be sensitive to the mineral and investment potential of each state in view of the Federal Government’s diversification campaign.

    She explained that the government would restructure the mineral architecture and enact laws enhancing its capacity for improved Internally Generated Revenue.

    Federal Commissioner (RMAC) Revd Ajibola Fagboyegun agreed that the state is endowed with mineral resources based on facts presented, and promised that the team would visit some of its mining sites.

  • ‘Banks not willing to finance solid minerals’

    ‘Banks not willing to finance solid minerals’

    Mr. Ayedun Fasina is the Managing Director/CEO, Multiverse Mining & Exploration Plc, the only mining company listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf he speaks on the prospects and challenges peculiar to the extractive industry. Excerpts:

    Can you take us through a brief history of Multiverse Mining & Exploration Plc?

    The company was incorporated in 2002 and we started operations in 2005 as a quarrying company. By October 2008, we were listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange because of our private placements.

    Of course, We started as a quarry company. I used to work in the bank before and rose to the position of Executive Director before I set up shop as a private company.

    We came at a time the country’s economy was booming.

    We decided to go into granite quarrying for construction because when the economy is booming there is usually a lot of construction going on. That’s how we seized the opportunity and all that.

    And in the course of time the cost of granite was rising and that’s why we were able to buy a lot of equipment and tools from the money we raised from the exchange because we noticed that after the 2007 election, precisely from 2010-2011, the economy started nose-diving…

    At that time we thought the best thing for us is to diversify into mining proper. And because we’re in mining now, it has really placed us amongst other companies in the world of mining. Today, if you mention mining in Nigeria the first company that comes to mind, especially outside the shores of this country is Multiverse Mining & Exploration Plc. We’re being approached by alot of companies abroad who are willing to do business with us.

    Our desire for now is to see that we’re listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, dual listing and all that so that we can have access to cheap funds. But of course, we need to get a project going for such to materialise. Once a project gets going, it’s possible. Our vision as a company is to put Nigeria on the mining map of the world.

    The first seminar we attended in London, when we said we’re from Nigeria, they said no, you people are known for oil. We said no. Multiverse Mining & Exploration Plc wants to put Nigeria in the mining map of the world.

    It comes with alot of challenges. It’s not been rosy. The Yoruba people say when you want to do what nobody has done before, your eyes will see what nobody has seen before. That’s exactly what we’re seeing. The banks don’t understand us, they don’t want to support anything that has to do with mining. They go to our mine site, they complain that they’re only seeing forests. They don’t know that alot of investments have been done. Because when they go to a mining site where they’ve spent $500m, you won’t just see anything.

    You can see forests, no doubt about that but with a bankable feasibility report, that’s money. Sometimes when you have this report on specific areas, you can sell it. Mining is simpler than oil and gas exploration. For you to get an oil field, you require millions of dollars.

    But by the time you’re spending $100m in mining, you’re already having multiples of that as a value.

    So I tell without any fear of contradiction that mining is a more lucrative part of the extractive industry.

    In our own case, by 2011, we ventured into mining of solid minerals in Nigeria which we believe has a lot of opportunities, vast opportunities because Nigeria is rich in minerals even more than the oil. You know in the 50s, the white people opened our eyes to the opportunities in the oil and gas sector. I still wonder why we cannot open our own eyes into the mining industry ourselves.

    Though mining has been existing in Nigeria for quite some time. You know the coal in Enugu, the tin in Jos, etc. But with the advent of oil and gas, we just abandoned it as a country. But we as a company, we saw it coming as far back as 2010-2011. Though the price of oil at the global market was going at a higher rate at that time but we believed that everybody if everybody is following oil and gas, we in Multiverse said okay, let’s look at the other way round and let’s do something different and that’s why we opted into solid minerals. Particularly, we’re into base metals like copper, lead, zinc, tin and all that. So that’s what we faced and I can tell you Nigeria is extremely rich in these minerals. And that’s why you see the Chinese, the Indians and all that flooding into this economy. I mean they see what we don’t see. That’s the wonder. They see money on our streets but we see poverty. That’s the difference. So we saw this coming and then we took the bull by the horn and then we faced the challenge of solid minerals.

    Our minerals site, including lead, zinc is in  Aboni in Nassarawa state and it’s been adjudged as one of the richest resource in that place. In terms of purity, it has one of the highest purity even in the world because sometimes in 2013, we brought some specialist from Canada who came to take samples of our minerals and the 70-year-old  geologist, we call them competent persons in Canada, said he has never seen lead mineral as pure as this. And then we showed him a test , how it was tested by Alfred Knight in the U.K. to be of 84% purity, he said he couldn’t believe it.

    And I told him jokingly that maybe you too have been infested with the Nigerian cynicism about not believing in anything. So I said, go back to Toronto and tell them what you have seen. And he took the sample from here and subjected it to the maximum text by SGS Canada, and found it to be at 68% purity. Apart from containing that large amount of lead content, it also has high quality of silver. So we’re just sitting on money we don’t even know how to harness. That’s the challenge of solid minerals in Nigeria.

    Having said that could you place an exact figure on the actual volume of the mineral deposit in Nigeria?

    Well, it’s difficult to put a figure in terms of volume but in terms of quality, you can say yes. To put a volume on quantity, it requires a lot of work. In fact, that’s where the work in solid minerals is, that’s exploration. To do that, we’ve to be able to give you a particular report that is bankable, that a professional can issue. In Canada, they call it National Instrument 43101. In South Africa, they call it SAMREC Report. In Australia, they call it Joy Report. So you have to have that kind of report, in which specialists would sit down, the geologists, the chemist, all body of professionals and say we’ve this amount of minerals in terms of quantity on a particular area.

    That actually brings me to the next question about geophysical report…

    Yes, geophysical report has to be done. On our part, we’ve done alot. I just told you that we brought in some Canadians. We’ve done the preliminary stage. There’s always a preliminary level. After the preliminary study, then you expend more money until they give you that particular report. So, in exploring that we’ve spent a lot of money at Multiverse Mining and Exploration Plc, up to a point when we couldn’t get financial support. We’ve been able to achieve the much we’ve done to the extent of the financial support we’ve gotten so far. We’ve a report that indicates that over our license, we’ve so so report so far. We brought in some Chinese, the East China Metallurgical Institute from East China and they’ve given us a particular report which says over this particular license, this is the amount of report that you’re likely to have. We still need to spend more money but the financial support is not there locally. All we’ve done in terms of finance is take short-term funds which are available here to do a bit in mining and that’s what we’re suffering now because the interest keeps accumulating from the short-term funding. Mining is a long-term business and no long-term funds are available in this clime. So that is the first challenge, long-term financing. As at today, we’re still the only mining company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. That has taken us a bit above other mining companies. If you talk to most mining companies in Nigeria, all they have is a mining license. But the white man is not stupid. Yes, you’ve a mining license, what work have you done on it? If you listened to the Minister of Steel and Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, about four weeks ago, he mentioned Kogi Iron, the next one is Multiverse Mining and Exploration company. Kogi Iron is an Australian company. From what I learnt, they’ve spent up to $50million on their site in Kogi state. By estimate, we’ve spent about $7million but we need more money. We’ve gotten into partnership with some Chinese. Initially, they said they would do everything but they decided to put some money on the table and asked us to bring in our own equity contribution too. Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to raise our part of money. So, those are the challenges that mining companies are likely to face.

    If you compare it with the oil companies in the 50s, the government sat down as a country and said look, let’s expend money to explore our oil reserves. The government spent the money to discover the number of oil wells and then went into partnership with multinationals like Shell, Chevron and all that. So, l keep wondering why that same approach cannot be done in the mineral sector. Until such steps are taken, it will be difficult. What l’m trying to say is that there must be government support in one form or the other to complete data gathering and mineral exploration. If we leave it to the private companies, there are issues. Yes, we’ve been talking to alot of foreign investors. We’ve talked to them up to a particular level, they’re attracted by the resources but again, they look at the country risk. I can tell you on the eve of the last presidential elections, one of our major partners left the site. They said they’re not sure of what is going to happen until after the elections. They’ve waited for about one year plus and we’re still talking to them saying at least, the country is stable come back. Of course, within the course of time, alot has happened at their own end too. So those are the challenges.

    Why do you think the government has not focused the necessary attention on solid minerals exploration given the fact that it has more potential compared to oil?

    I can tell you authoritatively that in terms of policies and laws of mining the country has the best even compared to global standards. The laws and regulations and incentives are there. I recalled taking our own mining law document to a company that has expended over $1billion to mining in Sierra Leone. They reviewed it and said it’s a perfect mining document. But there are some issues that makes the sector not attractive to them. We went to a particular mining seminar in London, we saw investors spending $500million and another spending $1billion elsewhere as l have just told you, Cape Lambert, an Australian company in Sierra Leone. But the same company chose to invest only $40million in Nigeria. So what is the problem? Liberia is war-torn, Sierra Leone is not as settled as Nigeria but they can boast of better investment in solid minerals. So there must be some issues that is not making them to come to Nigeria. May be it’s the issue of corruption. I don’t know. But there are issues. At our mining site, for instance, we already have people who say they would buy from us for 20years. If you look at the price of all the minerals, especially the ones we’re doing, the prices are going up everyday.

    I receive a mail on a daily basis on the price movement globally. As we speak, the price of copper will continue to surge higher in the next five years. While prices of oil is going down that of solid minerals are going up but Nigeria is sleeping. The question is why are we not seeing these opportunities? I can tell you it’s not been rosy for us. About two or three banks are trying to choke this company as l’m talking to you but if we get more support and all that, and these minerals gets explored, this is dollar in earnings. In terms of volumes, we’ve this technical reports which says the amount we’ve here. So, it’s just to raise funds and then do the mining.

    The other question that comes to mind is whether we’ve the required expertise in solid minerals exploration in the country?

    The answer is in-between. Yes, we’ve professors of geology, and all that. It could be that because of the neglect of the sector, they are not experts per se. I would say we’ve personnel but to say we’ve experts, l don’t completely agree. The reason is this, if you have expertise in something, then you should be able to do that thing effortlessly. But for the fact that we’re not able to explore our minerals, we don’t have expertise in it. That’s the point. Our own experience as a company has been very terrible I must say. We started as a purely indigenous company but we didn’t know that we were practically wasting time and money because the average Nigerian out there, just wants to get money without working. It’s very bad. The average Nigerian no matter his qualifications does not want to work. Most of the graduates will come to you and say we’re looking for work but give them work you’ll feel disappointed. That’s been our own personal experience. I give you an instance. We’ve a technical director here, who went to a university of technology. At the time Nigeria was setting up federal universities of technology, Ghana was also setting up their own. But unfortunately, we had to go to Ghana to shop for someone who can play a technical role in the company because we’ve wasted time and resources in employing Nigerians and at the end of the day it’s all a waste. Look at the quarry for instance, until we brought in the Chinese, we couldn’t start production. Meanwhile, the Chinese we brought in are illiterates practically but they’re dedicated to the work and they get things done. In fact, once a Nigerian knows you don’t know what he knows, he starts betraying you. That’s our experience.

    Look at Dangote for example. Why did he have to bring in the Chinese and the Indians? It’s the same thing. Does it mean we don’t have people with brains here? So there must be a factor. So to cut the long story short, in terms of expertise, we don’t have experts in mining.

  • Gombe woos investors in solid minerals

    Gombe woos investors in solid minerals

    Gombe state government has pledged its commitment to partner with individuals, groups and corporate organisations willing to invest in agriculture and solid minerals in the state.

    Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo spoke at Billiri during the agriculture and cultural exhibition designed to mark the 20th anniversary of the creation of Gombe state.

    “We are determined to provide enabling environment and support to attract investments,” he said.

    The governor said his administration would continue to ensure that Gombe state remained one of the leading food baskets in the country.

    He said that was why the exhibition showcased the state’s agricultural potentials and cultural diversity, “with the aim of achieving self-sufficiency and food security for peaceful co-eistence.”

    He said the exhibition was also to provide an avenue to promote and preserve the cultural.heritage of the state for posterity.

    In his remark, Chairman of Billiri local government, Faruk Dankuka said Gombe state had witnessed so much transformation since its creation on October 1, 1996.

    He ascribed the success to “the exemplary and dynamic leadership” of the leaders “from Group Captain Joseph Orji to the present leadership of Dr. Ibrahim Dankwambo.”

  • Solid minerals development: Beyond rhetorics of diversification

    Solid minerals development: Beyond rhetorics of diversification

    Next to agriculture, the solid minerals sector is another area being eyed by the Federal Government to diversify the economy from oil. GRACE OBIKE reports on the steps so far taken to attract investments into solid mineral and turning to the country’s pot of cash.

    It used to be a robust sector in the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. The sector was full of activities, creating employment opportunities. At a point, it was arguably the most formidable sector in the local economy, yielding huge revenue for the government. But the sector was relegated with the discovery of crude and the dependency of the Federal Government on earnings from oil exploration and export for foreign exchange.

    However, the Federal Government has been left with no other option to develop other sectors of the economy, following the fall in the oil prices at the international market in 2013. Besides, the unending attacks on pipeline facilities by restive youths in the Niger Delta has worsened the situation for the government which relied on oil sales for almost 80 per cent of its revenues.

    As a way out of the dwindling economic fortune, the President Buhari-led administration came with a mindset of diversifying the economy by developing other sectors. Since inception, the government has identified so many other sectors, two of which are agricultural and solid minerals.

    At his inaugural news conference, Solid Mineral Resources Minister Dr. Kayode Fayemi said his ministry had a mandate to remove all the obstacles hindering economic growth and militating against diversification of the revenue base.

    Seven out of the country’s many natural resources have been prioritised and being promoted for private sector participation and investment by the Federal Government.

    The minister has been meeting with stakeholders in the sector, seeking out ways to formulate policies that will jumpstart the sector and take it to the level of diversification desired by the country.

    Fayemi has quick been to say: “This is not a sector that will be developed overnight; the stakeholders in the sector know the challenges that confront them which we will like to discuss – be it the activities of the ministry, overall ease of doing business, in finance and every part of operations.”

    A ministerial committee that was inaugurated in March was given the task of developing a roadmap for the growth and development of the mining industry.

    The committee was also mandated to formulate a course that will stimulate growth in the sector, the roadmap which was based on identifying the current status and hindrances to the development of the mineral sector and proffering solutions to overcome them.

    The roadmap, which was eventually launched in Kaduna, created eight strategies on how to improve the ecosystem for the minerals and mining sector to thrive.

    These are: integrated strategy through proactive communication; investor-friendly regulatory environment; coordinated infrastructure investments; community partnership; investment funding; institutional reform; geo-scientific value added and mining as development catalyst.

    The ministerial think-tank also recommended a review of how other countries like Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Cameroon have used similar levers to promote competition in mining sectors.

    Other recommendations included the need for the Federal Government to work with states using a variety of mechanisms to communicate that mining will remain under the exclusive list without precluding the states from becoming legitimate equity investors in their own right by applying to the Mining Cadastral Office (MCO) for licenses alone, or in partnership with private companies.

    At the launch, the minister assured the states that the MCO would open local branches to bridge the gap between them and the Federal Government. According to Fayemi, the local MCOs will eliminate the bureaucratic bottlenecks and ease the stress associated with the issuance of licenses to potential investors, adding that such measures would encourage investment in the sector.

     

    No longer business as usual

    Demonstrating that it will henceforth be business unusual in the sector, the ministry has threatened to revoke the more than 1,500 dormant mining licenses. It said the country has been losing revenues from the non-operation of such licenses, which would have created 8,000 jobs.

    Before the expiration of the 30 day ultimatum issues to beneficiaries, the Federal Government raked in over N500 million from license renewal alone as operators rushed to reactivate their licenses and leases.

    Since more than 80 of local miners are mostly artisanal and small-scale miners, illegal mining has been a thriving business and the trend has affected revenue generation in the sector. There have been reported cases of illegal miners, including Asian and African illegal immigrants at sites in Osun and  Zamfara state.  Not a few investors have complained of purchasing licenses, only to find illegal miners reaping the fruits of their labour.

    A source at the ministry that pleaded for anonymity said that the Federal Government is careful not to create problems that might lead to militancy amongst the illegal miners if they are forced to stop trying to make ends meet.

    Ironically, the illegal miners, who mine in small quantities and without access to market, are often shortchanged by businessmen, who give them peanuts only to resell the products for huge profits.

    Already, the Federal Government is working with the unauthorised miners to organise themselves into cooperatives which will in turn agree with the government on the payment of revenues, taxes and other requirements.

    With the arrangement, the government will not only provide the miners access to a market where they can sell and make better money but also widen their access to credit facilities from financial institutions.

    It was learnt that the minister has been in talks with financial institutions like the World Bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Industry (BoI) and Money Deposit Banks (MDBs) on the possibility of providing intervention funds to investors in the mining sector.

    He said that the facility will serve as incentives to local miners and investors and on the long-run stimulate growth in the sector and increase local production.

    Beides, Fayemi has equally urged commercial banks to set up mining desks to enhance investors’ access to the intervention funds. Investigation showed that some banks have set up these desks and others are working towards it.

    To allay investors’ fear on insecurity at the mining sites, Fayemi has secured the Ministry of Interior’s commitment. This was demonstrated with the deployment of some 3, 000 operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) by Interior Minister Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazzau to curb illegal mining operations and ensure security in all the 774 local government areas.

    Gen Dambazzau said the NSCDC operatives will not only check illegal miners but unravel their sponsors to achieve the diversification plans of the Buhari administration.

    The interior minister also added that the ministry will deploy more personnel from the Customs and Immigration Services to effectively monitor illegal exportation of minerals at the airports and borders.

    Recently, Fayemi stated that the government was working on modalities to kit the local mining laboratories in Kaduna and Jos with Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) standard in the nearest future.

    He said the development will enhance miners’ capacity to test minerals excavated in the country without having to take it to laboratories outside the country to confirm the quality efore export. According to Fayemi, the sector will start running in full force.

     

    Not taking chance

    On their own, local miners have been working with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to address the quality infrastructural gap of all exportable items in the agricultural and mining sectors. They have reportedly working on the creation of a lab in the country that can certify all exports from the country and have the required OIC standard.

    The partnership which is between the Miners Association of Nigeria, Ministry of Trade & Investment and UNIDO, has been working to encourage six UNIDO-assisted companies to create laboratories that will have the OIC standard and all exports from the country can be tested without taking them outside the country.

     

    Reviving the steel sector

    Some $3 trillion would be needed to fund infrastructural needs in the solid minerals’ sector in the next three decades, Fayemi said at a business forum in London. He confirmed the projection at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum in May.

    He said the Federal Government will stay action on the Ajaokuta Steel Company until all legal issues have been resolved.

    According to the minister, the company to which Ajaokuta was concessioned in 2003 has taken the Federal Government to the Arbitration Court in the United Kingdom (UK), pointing out that the government was working on how to resolve the issue.

    He, however, informed that six countries have approached the government with proposals on how to revive the steel company within 24 months.

    Besides, the minister said that the 18 companies operating out of 30 steel companies in the country have capacity to produce 2.6 million tonnes of steel annually.

    In December last year, the Federal Government promised to unveil a comprehensive blueprint for the completion and rehabilitation of Ajaokuta Steel Company and the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) in Itakpe, Kogi State

    Though the minister has restated that the government would soon come up with realistic policies that will turn the steel sector into a viable sector of the economy, nothing has been heard of the promised blue print seven months into the year.

    Ajaokuta and NIOMCO are still in their sorry state.  Many stakeholders in the industry have expressed hope that mining will become the nation’s next hub of unemployment with the level of commitment already shown in the sector by the Buhari administration.

    Players’ perception of the sector

    Although divergent views often resonate from stakeholders about the state of the solid minerals’ sector. Many of them believe that the government has demonstrated enough seriousness to the development of the sector.

    They have predicted light at the end of the dark tunnel, but urged the government to be steadfast with the implementation of its policies, saying that the rush with which licensees renewed their dormant lincences was a demonstration of what could be achieved with the will power.

    But miners under the umbrella of the Nigerian Miners Association disagreed with the revocation threat. They argued that the government was insensitive to complaints that the sector was moribund and struggling to get by.

    According to them, there were no activities in the sector for years and that the revocation of licenses would further worsen the unemployment situation. They said the dominant players in the mining sector, being artisanal and small scale businessmen, should be supported by the government and not discouraged from investing in a sector in need of as many investors as possible.

    President of the association, Alhaji Sani Shehu, explained: “There is nothing wrong with the government revocation licenses but the environment is not yet matured for it as there are no activities in the sector.

    “Some people got licenses for speculation purposes; to see if they can sell it. Although speculation in the advance mining jurisdiction is acceptable so long as you do not break the law, but the kind of speculation we see in Nigeria is capable of discouraging serious players from investing in the sector because if one covers a place with no capacity to mine and for years in just sits there, no one else has the right to cover it, preventing others with the capacity from doing so.”

    On the policy of intervention funds being packaged for investors by the government, Shehu lauded the move as a welcome development but also gave solutions for a successful implementation.

    He said: “If it is done, I think we will see something different. For instance, Chinese investors get loan facilities for two to three per cent for a repayment period of 20 years but if compared to the Nigerian environment, they charge between 22 and 26 per cent for two to three years.

    “So, you see that it is not possible for a Nigerian businessman or miner to compete with his Chinese counterpart. We are happy with what the government is doing. They are funding initiatives here and there for example the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) single digits by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is encouraging but the challenge my people are having is, the funds have to be disbursed through the commercial banks and the risk components of the loan facilities are left to the commercial banks.

    “So, to them, the nine per cent interest rate may be okay but beside the nine per cent interest rate, the facility and all the criteria, risk mitigating majors are taken by the commercial banks.

    “If the government can create a risk mitigating structure for the facilities in solid minerals just like they did with agriculture, commercial banks will be at ease to fund miners and ones the funding challenge is properly addressed, we will be seeing activities in almost every part of the country.”

    In a telephone conversation with The Nation, a NIOMCO official who pleaded for anonymity explained the state of the plants in Itakpe and Ajaokuta. The official said that when his association visited the ministry in March, they were officially informed that the government was considering handing Ajaokuta and NIOMCO over to Chinese investors.

    The official told The Nation: “Presently, the statuesque of Ajaokuta and NIOMCO remain the same. When our association visited the ministry in March to discuss the state of the companies, we were officially informed that the government wants to invite the Chinese to come and take over Ajaokuta and NIOMCO.

    “They said that it is because of the ongoing crises between Russia and Ukraine that the government does not want to get involved in the crisis. We are opposed to a Chinese takeover. Ajaokuta workers prefer the Russians to return since they installed the machines and have been managing the plant before now. In NIOMCO, we prefer that the government negotiates with the German company – Koch. They have a better knowledge than the Chinese.

    “Presently NIOMCO has a new management team in place and they have started installing light around Itakpe, the management got money from cooperatives and we are presently hoping that the installation will be complete in latest a week from now and the plant will have light.”

  • Nigeria earns N12b from solid minerals

    Nigeria earns N12b from solid minerals

    The solid minerals sector contributed N12 billion revenue into the Federation Account for the first time last year, the Acting Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Alhaji Shetima Umar Abba Gana, has said.

    He said the feat was acheived through the advocacy and mass mobilisation initiatives of the Commission to draw attention to the need to expand and diversify the country’s revenue base.

    He said the 13 per cent derivation was also paid to the states that bore the solid minerals.

    Meanwhile, the Federal Government has agreed to upgrade the Department of Mines and Inspectorate of the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development to enhance the contribution of the sector to the Federation Account.

    The Minister of State, Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Alhaji Bawa Bwari who spoke yesterday in Abuja during a seminar on the role of mining in diversifying the revenue base of the economy organised by the RMAFC, said the Federal Government decided to adopt in principle, the recommendation of the RMAFC that Mines and Inspectorate Department which is responsible for exploitation and exploration activities as well as collecting operational fees, be upgraded into a full fledged agency.

     

     

     

    When operational, the agency, will have the same status as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) as a cost collecting agency.

    He said to ensure its efficiency and sustainability, the Fedartisanal (miners), repair moribund infrastructure, provide more respectable geoscience data, engage with foreign and domestic partners, work on an integrated road map that emerges from a broad consultation process, and enter into strategic partnership with governors and other colleagues at the Federal Executive Council,” Bwari said.

    According to him, government is determined to focus attention on agriculture and solid minerals. He lamented that Nigeria spends over N1.5 trillion annually on food importation which puts a heavy pressure on foreign exchange.

    Nigeria he said needs to take full advantage of her agricultural potentials in order to preserve her dwindling resources while enriching local farmers. With regards to solid minerals, he said Nigeria  has at least 44 known mineral assets and every local government can boast of one mineral or the other, yet the contribution of solid mineral sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) is as low as 0.34 per cent.

     

  • ‘Fed Govt, states should partner on solid minerals’

    ‘Fed Govt, states should partner on solid minerals’

    Solid minerals can drive industrialisation and economic growth in the country, the sector stakeholders have said in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

    The stakeholders spoke at the 52nd Annual National Conference of Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS).

    Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and Solid Minerals Development Kayode Fayemi were in attendance.

    Both Governor Ahmed and Dr Fayemi decried the neglect of the sector by successive governments in the country.

    Ahmed used the occasion to call for partnership between the Federal Government and states for a survey of the quality and quantity of solid minerals in the country in order to build a geosciences database.

    He said, “No doubt, the solid mineral sector has the potential to generate significant revenue for the country but has been largely underexplored due to the reliance on oil resources.

    “Yet the opportunities are vast. For example, 30 per cent of the planet’s mineral resources, and specifically, more than 40 per cent of global gold, diamond and manganese, to mention a few, is found in Africa. Nigeria is no less endowed.

    “According to the 2012 audit report of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Nigeria has about 40 different solid minerals spread across the country. Yet on the average, the sector contributes only about 0.34 percent to the country’s GDP.

    “More than ever before, there is profound optimism that the sector can serve as a key driver in the quest for sustained economic growth and development in the country. The cumulative experience and expertise in this room today makes you all key to this quest.

    “As things stand in our country, the only way governments can continue to meet their obligations to the people is to create a broad based and sustainable economy: an economy that relies on revenue and growth from multiple sectors and is structured to create prosperity for the current generation without jeopardising that of the future.

    “However, it is important to note that Section 44 (3) of the 1999 Constitution vests the Federal Government with the ownership and control of all minerals, mineral oils and natural gas, in Nigeria.

    “Also, the Second Schedule, Part1, item 39 of the Exclusive Legislative list in the 1999 Constitution restricts State Governments from developing their respective mining industries.

    “As a result, this has limited the authority of states in the mining sector. This restriction has led to states having no authority to regulate the sector despite, playing host to miners.

    “Indeed, it is ironic that this restriction exists at a time states are required to exploit alternative sources of revenue such as the solid mineral and mining sector.

    This structure has led to environmental degradation as licensed miners sometimes carry out mining activities in a haphazard manner, as states are unable to regulate their activities.

    “I, therefore call on the Federal Government to allow increased participation by States in the solid mineral sector, especially in exploration, the collection of royalties, fees, fines and taxes accruable from solid minerals.

    “With this, states will be able to stimulate more growth, increase their Internally Generated Revenue, and create critical jobs for youths.

    “While we have a fairly accurate estimate of the mineral resources our country is endowed with, it is believed these barely scratch the surface of the vast mineral deposits in Nigeria. We must however acknowledge that mineral exploitation is expensive and time consuming.

    “In Kwara state, we are blessed with Gold, Kaolin, Marble, Dolomite, Tourmalines, Limestone and several other solid minerals which we are focused on exploiting to form the base for industrial development in the state.

    “Likewise, in order to diversify our economic base through solid minerals, this administration has put in place strategies to formalise and grow the industry.

    “These strategies include: enumerating and regulating operators and growing micro-and small-scale operators in the sector amongst others.

    “Furthermore, we are making plans to organise informal miners in the sector into cooperatives and given access to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME) loans. This is to encourage small business owners in solid mineral and mining sector.

    “We have also set up the Midway Minerals Development Company Limited as a special purpose vehicle to acquire mining licenses and promote investment in the sector. Currently, we have five mining permits covering 445 cadastral units for mining Tourmaline, Tantalum, Dolomite and Marble.

    “Additionally, we are ready to acquire additional licenses to further exploit opportunities in the sector and by forging partnerships with private sector investors.

    Dr Fayemi used the occasion to decry insufficient funding of the ministry over the years.

    He added that out of the one billion Naira voted for the ministry in the 2015 budget, the ministry could only access N352 million.

    Dr. Fayemi added, saying, “This year alone Bukina-Faso next door to us is spending $80 million on generating geosciences data. Kenya is spending $65 million on generating geosciences data. It is not the total budget of the ministry. It is clear to us and President Muhammadu Buhari that if this sector is to thrive, we also need to inject more funding, not just government funding but private sector funding.

    “To this end, one of my first tasks as a minister was to meet all the managing directors of commercial banks and the Governor of Central Bank (CBN) to encourage them to become involved in mining by setting up solid mineral’s desk in their various banks, just as they have agric desk; and also organising an intervention fund for the sector, which we are now working on.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Economic crisis: Blame past governments – Edo Commissioner

    The Edo state commissioner for solid minerals, Hon Saturday  Uwulekhue has posited that the current economic crisis being experienced in the nation is as a result of the failure of previous government to peg budget based on economic reality.

    He said records have shown that previous governments did not take into consideration the reality in international market while using the dollar as a benchmark in preparing the budget

    He added that because the price of crude oil in the international market does not correspond with the reality on ground, the nation was bound to fall into the crisis we are now.

    He further added that these suffering should have long been expected stating that “What we are observing today should have been expected by the previous government and by those who were saddled with the responsibilities of advising government. For instance the price of oil was based on the abnormalities in the prices of oil in the international market and people were working the budget based on the abnormalities.”

    “The issue is that what we are seeing at the international market is that we were living in a borrowed economy because of the crisis in the international market.”

    “They would have prepared the budget based on the reality on ground. Budgets were based on these abnormalities. I believe that the issue of diversification should have long been taken care off before now. We should have done that over 20years ago. As I speak no state government has any other source of revenue other than oil. No machines are on ground to explore or exploit solid minerals, all that is happening is that private sector participation. What the government do is just collect its taxes and haulage and personal income tax.”

  • Plateau to explore solid minerals

    Plateau to explore solid minerals

    Dwindling federal allocations have forced Plateau State to turn to its abundant solid minerals left in the hands of illegal miners. Buoyed by the federal government’s resolve to allow states participate in tapping such rich deposits in their soils, the state governor Simon Lalong said his administration will explore its solid mines.

    “Before the dwindling resources from oil, nobody was bothered about solid minerals,” Lalong said. “We lost so much in the area because we left it to illegal miners. This is the time to look inwards. Plateau was the headquarters of the Nigeria Mining Corporation. That should tell you the importance or significance of mining to the people of [the] state. In those days when people were talking about groundnuts and cocoa, we were hitting our chest and talking about mining. That was why the name Jos became popular. When the prices of oil started falling we said we must go back to mining and agriculture”.

    Speaking further, he said, “I was very happy when the Minister for Solid Minerals Development came to Jos, [telling] me that the best inputs he got on ways of managing the solid mineral sector came from Jos. The day he visited Jos, I was having a wider stakeholders meeting with the people of Plateau and they were also part of it. That meeting shifted from all other things to solid minerals and very heavy contributions came from Plateau State and those contributions helped us at the National Economic Council meeting and that is what is going to form the policy thrust of the administration both at the federal and state levels. So, to me, it is an advantage. Virtually every part of my state is rich with solid minerals. But the law was done in such a way that the states were disadvantaged. People come into your state after collecting licence from Abuja; sometimes, they come with military and police escort, do whatever they want and give the communities stipends and you don’t know what they are taking. This time, the President has a change of attitude, according to the change mantra. He said no, we must follow the law. States must also participate in the exploration and advantage of solid minerals in their states. To me, it is going to boost the economy and have serious impact on my revenue generation. We factored that into our retreat as to how to take advantage of the new policy on solid minerals in improving revenue generation.”

     

  • ‘Nigeria can generate N5tr yearly from solid minerals’

    •Metal exporters seek to partner with govt

    Nigeria can generate at least N5 trillion annually from mining and exporting of its vast solid mineral deposits, with several multiplier effects on job creations, state development and social infrastructure that could make the solid minerals sector as the main catalyst for the national development.

    At a press briefing at the weekend in Lagos, the Association of Metal Exporters of Nigeria called on the Federal Government to provide the enabling environment for the development of the Nigerian solid minerals sector. Metallic solid minerals are the most exported solid minerals from Nigeria.

    The association, which comprises of various companies in the business of metal export, praised the focus of the Honourable Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr. Kayode Fayemi, and expressed its readiness to partner with the government in the development of the Nigerian solid minerals sector.

    President, Association of Metal Exporters of Nigeria, Mr. Seun Olatunji, said there is need for synergy between government agencies and private operators to unlock the values in solid minerals sector.

    He noted that with not less than 38 viable solid mineral deposits in sustainable export quantity in Nigeria, the solid minerals sector has the potential to generate not less than N5 trillion annually once the government put in place necessary frameworks.

    He pointed out that the solid minerals industry could serve as the much-needed solution to unemployment as the development of the value chain from mining to export can create more than five million jobs.

    “We are glad that the current government is serious about solid minerals and diversification of the economy.Government should come up with policies that will enable Nigerians to benefit optimally from the country natural resources,” Olatunji said.

    According to him, there is need for government regulatory agencies such as Standards Organisation of Nigeria (ON) to work with established private sector companies under the auspices of Association of Metal Exporters of Nigeria to develop globally acceptable regulatory standards for Nigerian metallic exports.

    He noted that Nigeria has been losing considerable values due to the absence of efficient regulations and standards for metal exports.

    “Our vision is to have a solid minerals industry where all operators along the value chain are well compensated and where Nigeria can realise the full potential of its God-given natural resources,” Olatunji said.

    Vice President, Association of Metal Exporters of Nigeria, Mr. Bamidele Ayemibo, underscored the need for government to consider viable public private partnership (PPP) option to develop basic infrastructure such as crushing plant and standardised weighing bay among others.

    According to him, with a crushing plant, government should put in place a general policy that ensures that all metal exports are crushed and SON and other regulatory agencies should see to the enforcement of standards in the solid minerals exports in order to ensure that Nigerian exports are competitive in the global market.

    General Secretary, Association of Metal Exporters of Nigeria, Mrs Kemi Ayo-Ogunkeye, added that standard-setting will bring values to Nigerian businesses and Nigeria as this will not only enhance the volume of transactions but also the reliability of the business.

    She said the Association of Metal Exporters of Nigeria is willing to support government efforts in developing the solid minerals exports noting that members of the association as established operators have the wherewithal to contribute meaningfully to the government’s efforts at developing the sector.

    In his remarks, financial secretary, Association of Metal Exporters of Nigeria, Mr. Adegbola Ilori, said the association would also interface with the National Assembly to seek review of existing laws and to promote new laws that could help the development of the solid minerals industry.

    He praised the policy initiative aimed at encouraging state governments to play actively in the development of solid minerals in their domains, noting that such a policy could be a major solution to the cash crunch bedeviling many states and help to stop rural-urban drift.