ABUJA – Chairman, Solid Minerals Development Fund, Mr Linus Adie, has appealed to incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari to invest in the generation of credible geosciences data for development of mining sector.
Adie made the call at the Public Opening of Bid for the Concession of Ririwai Mining Lease in Abuja on Tuesday.
He stressed that it was important to invest in mining asset and exploration.
Adie said that the generation of credible geosciences data was imperative to the development of solid minerals sector of any country as it would ensure the development of the sector’s potentialities.
The chairman urged the incoming government to invest in Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency and other agencies mandated to generate geosciences data.
He said Cameroon and Niger Republic developed their steel and uranium respectively through concession and both had successfully created employment and boosted their revenue bases.
The also had more mining companies in their respective countries.
He said there was a provision in the mining law where government would invest money for exploration to a certain extent and then sell the property to the private investors.
The chairman said in such a situation, government would take part of the risk off investors.
“This will serve as additional attraction to interest investors provided there is guarantee of getting minerals.’’
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Adie said more countries were adopting the concession option rather than the mining cadastre practice because it of its convenience and revenue generation capabilities.
“The mining cadastre can be abused but the concession process cannot be abused because the investor will bring in money and start exploration immediately to get his money back quickly.
“You can image; with the concession, the highest bidder is ready to invest more than five million dollars (N1 billion).
“If we had chosen the mining cadastre option, of course the government will certainly not realise this money’’, he said.
According to Adie, once the investors have assurance that the minerals exist in a particular area, it makes them have confidence to proceed.
“The Ririwai mining is a complex consisting of cassiterite, columbite, lead/zinc and other minerals in situs; it is a prime minerals asset in the country.
“It is an underground mine located in Kano State and it has been demarcated for bidding so that a serious investor can develop it into a profitable mining site,’’ Adie explained.
Mr Alex Ndubuisi, the Director-General, Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, appealed to indigenous mining companies to take advantage of geosciences data generated by the agency.
He said that only the foreign mining companies had shown interest in the data generated by the agency.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that two mining companies that bided for Ririwai Mining Lease are Century Mining Company and Promethean Mining Company.
Century entered a bid of 5.5 million U.S. dollars (N1 billion) while Promethean entered a bid of 3.75 million U.S. dollars (N746.50 million)
Chairman of Century Company, Alhaji Lawal Idrisu, said he was satisfied with the bid because it was transparent and open.
The Managing Director, Promethean Resources Ltd, Mr Demola Gbadegesin, also said he was satisfied with the bid in spite of the fact that he entered a lower bid.
He said the company was into mining of tin in some states in the country and had so far invested over 20 million U.S. dollars in tin mining in the country. (NAN)
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