Samuel Bello, Abuja

The Federal Government has assured investors of its determination to derisk the mining sector by generating adequate geoscience data that will add value to the nation’s mineral deposit.

Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Abubakar Bwari, stated this yesterday in Abuja at a One day inception meeting and presentation of project activities of the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project (NIMEP).

Bwari said the key objective of the exploration project was to rapidly generate integrated geosciences information in greenfield and brownfield settings.

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According to him, “because government is determined to making mining one of the arrow heads of its diversification drive, we decided to embark on this exploration project to generate the sort of critical information that can spur investment in the sector.

“This project is the first of its kind in the country and is designed along typical exploration phases with time-bound deliverables. This inception meeting is therefore one of a series of meetings we will be having to examine the outcomes of each phase for wider stakeholders participation. Today’s event is therefore meant to present the outputs of the deskwork studies done by the contractors before they resume field work.

The minister however allayed the fears of title holders and other stakeholders whose titles fall within the project area. He assured that their interests will be fully protected as the results of the exploration will further enrich their properties.

“This integrated exploration project embarked upon by the Ministry under the Natural Resource Fund could therefore not have come at a better time than now when the world is becoming interested in our mining endowments once again. We must therefore continue to do all we can to ensure that we make the sector more attractive for investors,” Bwari said.