The Minister of
Mines and Steel Development, Musa Sada on Thursday, revealed that new
mining regulations will be ready by April this year.
Mr Sada, said in a
speech at the African Mining Conference in Cape Town, South Africa,
that the aim is to encourage more investment into Nigeria’s mining
sector. He said in addition a sustainable development fund is being set
up to further develop the mining sector, ‘‘What government is trying to
do is to create a kind of development fund for the mining sector,
whereby it will put its own money and then ask the banks to contribute
because of the long gestation of the mining activity.
‘‘The fund will
allow the banks to lend to miners for a long period , as it will take a
long time before profit can be realised by the miners,” he said.
Mr Sada said apart
from the fund, government had also embarked on massive development of
infrastructure to attract foreign investors into the sector. He listed
dredging of the rivers around the coastline to allow large vessels
transport minerals from the mines to the outer coasts, expansion and
rehabilitation of rail transportation as well as deregulation of the
power sector, as some of the steps being taken.
The minister said
government is also working with several countries to further develop
Nigeria’s mining industry in line with international trends.“Nigeria
is now an interesting mining investment destination on account of its
geology, openness and ease of doing business,” he said.
He said that the topography of Nigeria is comparable to those of
other West African countries where world class deposits have been
found. He, therefore, said there was no scientific reason why such
deposits could not be found in the country.
