From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
Minister of Mines and Steel Development Olamilekan Adegbite has stated that leakage has become one of the greatest obstacles to the development of Nigeria’s mining industry.
The minister, while receiving the delegates from Aurelia Mining Company Limited, UK, stressed that though eliminating illegal mining is becoming impossible but that the ministry would collaborate with other relevant authorities especially the security agencies to curb it.
‘We are working with other agencies, government departments and ministries as well so that we can overcome all these leakages,’ the minister said.
‘There is leakage in the port, those who export illegally without paying the royalties that are due and people who mine illegally, it is a very big problem. So, we are cooperating with other agencies, especially the security agencies, to make sure we reduce it as much as possible. It is almost impossible to eliminate it, but we can keep it to the nearest minimum,’ he stated.
‘The whole essence of this is to promote the mining industry in Nigeria by convincing more investors to come over to Nigeria for the mining business. Nigeria used to do mining before we discovered oil and gas, due to the easy nature of the development of the sector, we shifted focus from mining but now we have realised that we need to do both.’
The Aurelia Mining Company Limited, UK, team leader, Julian Hammond, earlier in his remarks stated that the company would be investing not less than $100 mining in the industry.
Hammond said that the mineral industry would soon dominate the economy, and called on Nigerians in the diaspora to return and make use of the available resources.
‘The visit is to meet the ministry and see how they feel about investing in the mineral industry and we have discovered that the best place to invest in the mineral industry in Africa is Nigeria.
‘We are still in the preliminary stage which will cost about $5 to 10 million, but as we begin the formal mining operation, and if it is big as what we envisage, we are going to be talking as much as $50 to 100 million,’ he said.