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Amechi Ogbonna and Charles Nwaoguji
As part of efforts to diversify the nation’s economy away from crude oil, the Federal Government, yesterday, said it has entered into a partnership agreement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to buy off unrefined gold products from local miners.
Consequently, in order to stimulate activities in the nation’s solid minerals sector, the government said it is coming out with a policy that will make it a criminal offence to export solid mineral deposits in their natural state without value addition.
Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite, who disclosed this in Lagos yesterday during an interactive meeting with the media, said the policy comes as part of measures to encourage formal exploration and refining of an estimated 44 solid mineral deposits found in various parts of the country.
Under its Gold Initiative targeted at increasing revenue from the non-oil sector, job creation and encouraging local and artisanal miners, CBN will act as off-taker to purchase refined gold produced by indigenous miners in line with its policy to put about 10 per cent of the nation’s foreign reserves on locally produced gold, which currently commands a lot of value in the international market.
Against this backdrop, the minister explained that the government has initiated several far-reaching measures to put structures in place to formalise much of the mining activities currently in the hands of illegal and artisanal miners around the country.
According to him, this would involve a comprehensive cadastral and geological mapping of solid mineral sites in states where they exist, which would ultimately act as a marketing tool for Federal Government’s bid to woo foreign investors.
To ensure this target is achieved, Adegbite stated that the government has already issued two gold refining licenses whose production facilities would be located in Mowe, Ogun State, and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He said the government has also put the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Nigeria Immigration Service high command on notice to arrest anyone attempting to export or sell unrefined solid minerals from the country without value addition.
Meanwhile, the minister equally restated the Federal Government’s commitment to investing heavily in solid minerals exploration, having already earmarked a whopping N30 billion to the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development of which about N15 billion was being utilised on exploratory works on the seven strategic solid minerals including gold.
He said, “we have started gathering data which we want to use to market for foreign investors and by the end of the 1st quarter, we would have concluded final work on data gathering.
“We are getting good result because as I am talking with you now, a Canadian firm is already building its mines in Osun State with a view to commencing mining exploration in the state and by the end of 2021, it would start exporting refined gold from Nigeria.”
