FG secures $150m World Bank support for mining development – Fayemi

Federal Government, through the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, has secured $150 million support from the World Bank for the Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (MSSED or MinDiver) programme.

New Telegraph reports that the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who disclosed this in Abuja yesterday, said the ministry is working with the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, the Nigerian Stock Exchange and other institutions to assemble a $600 million investment fund for the sector, by first quarter of 2017.

The Minister stated this in his 2016 End of year Ministerial Briefing and Projections for Year 2017. The event was attended by the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Hon. Abubakar Bawa Bwari, and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mohammed Abbas, New Telegraph reports.

According to New Telegraph, Fayemi said: “We have secured support from the World Bank for the funding of $150 million Mineral Sector Support for Economic Diversification (Economic Diversification MSSED or MinDiver) programme.

A critical component of the support is to provide technical assistance for the restructuring and operationalisation of the Solid Minerals Development Mining Investment Fund, which would make finance available to ASM operators through development finance, micro- finance and leasing institutions.

“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 among others.”

The minister spoke of plans for the mining sector new year, at the event which also featured the commissioning of 38 surveillance vehicles bought for mines officers, valued at about N322 million. Fayemi said the sector has witnessed some positive developments and productivity in the last one year, including a major improvement in the ministry’s contribution to the Federation Account to about N2 billion in 2016, up from N700 million in 2015.

He added that increased productivity in the mining space had also led to significant discovery of mineral deposits, notably the large find of high-grade nickel a few months ago in Dangoma, Kaduna State by an Australian mining company operating in Nigeria.

Fayemi further revealed that government had constructed 10 Prototype Mineral Buying Centres across the country for specific strategic industrial minerals.

“The centres are to serve as standardisation centres to enable ASM Cooperatives and operators receive fair premium for their labour. With renewed determination to strengthen collaborative efforts with state governments in natural resource governance, the PMBCs are being ceded to state governments,” he said.

Fayemi promised to generate more than N3 billion through mining fees and royalty into the Federation Account in 2017.

He said that the ministry generated fund mainly through royalty, fees for licenses and mining inspectorate operations. He said that the ministry work plan would be relentlessly guided by the provisions of the roadmap, particularly the short, medium and long-term targets as the ministry proposed for increase in 2017 budget.

“In 2017, we will continue to work to make our mining sector more competitive in the global mining space, and be relevant to our domestic needs and strategic sovereign goals in line with our roadmap.

“We will focus on priority areas to drive the growth; seven mineral resources such as iron ore, coal, bitumen, limestone, lead/zinc, gold and barite have been identified as key areas for Nigeria’s domestic industrialisation and infrastructure requirements,” Fayemi said.

Source: New Telegraph