The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, on Wednesday, courted international investors in London with a proposal that includes a $50 million lithium processing plant, duty-free importation of mining equipment, and unrestricted repatriation of profits.
A statement issued by his Special Adviser, Kehinde Bamigbetan, revealed that Alake made the pitch during the Resourcing Tomorrow Annual Exhibition and Conference in the United Kingdom, where he led Nigeria’s delegation.
Addressing participants, the Minister announced that Nigeria is now fully open for large-scale mining investments, highlighting recent progress in mineral processing.
He noted that the sector had attracted more than $2 billion in funding for lithium and rare earth projects over the past two years.
According to him, these inflows stem from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s value-addition policy, which aims to end raw ore exports and boost domestic mineral processing.
He said, “Since last year, companies such as Canmax Technologies, Jiuling Lithium, Avatar New Energy Nigeria Limited, and Asba group have collectively invested over 1.3 billion US dollars in lithium processing projects across Nigeria.
“These are not speculative ventures; they are bricks, mortar, and machinery. And just outside Abuja, the federal capital of Nigeria, construction is underway for a 50-million-dollar lithium processing plant, the first in a network of industrial clusters that will extend through Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara, and Ebonyi states.
“On November 19, this year, Nigeria broke new grounds in the processing of rare earths ores with the groundbreaking of the $400 million rare earth plant of the Hasetins group.”
Alake added that the government has set up Mining Marshals to safeguard mining operations and enforce regulations, with plans to enhance the system using satellite monitoring to track activities across the country.
He also promoted the Nigeria Solid Minerals Company as the federal government’s preferred partner for joint ventures, leveraging mineral assets transferred from the former Nigerian Mining Corporation to meet investor expectations.
