Nigeria secures $150 million World Bank loan to support mining sector

20 Dec 2016
Financial Nigeria

Summary

Fayemi also said that the federal government was planning to raise a $600 million investment fund for the mining sector in partnership with the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Fund.

Minister of Mines and Steel Development Kayode Fayemi

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said that the federal government had secured a $150 million financing from the World Bank to support the development of the country’s mining sector as part an economic diversification programme.

Speaking during a press briefing on the ministry’s activities in Abuja on Monday, Fayemi also said that the federal government was planning to raise a $600 million investment fund for the mining sector in partnership with the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Fund.

“We have secured support from the World Bank for $150m for the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification programme, a critical component of which is to provide technical assistance for the restructuring and operationalisation of the Mining Investment Fund, which will make finance available to artisanal and small mining operators through development finance, microfinance and leasing institutions,” the minister said. “The fund will also help to bring back on stream previously abandoned proven mining projects like tin ore, iron ore, coal, gold and lead-zinc.”

The minister said that under his leadership, the mining ministry had tripled its contribution to the Federal Account from N700 million in 2015 to N2 billion in 2016. He also said that the ministry is working to upgrading the National Minerals Database to ascertain the assays of the country’s mineral assets.

“We are working to retrieve old data obtained on the various mineral deposits across the country, as well as enter into joint ventures with private exploration companies to generate new data from our Greenfield explorations,” the minister said. “We hope that analysis of this information will help to further buttress our speculations on the quantity and quality of mineral deposits in the country.”

Earlier in August, Fayemi announced that the federal government was seeking up to $7 billion in investments in Nigeria’s steel and mining sectors over the next decade in a bid to diversify the country’s economy. He said the investments will be targeted at meeting the country’s steel demand of about 6.8 million metric tonnes as well as developing gold and iron ore extractive industries.


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