FG partners US to increase investment in mining sector

The federal government has disclosed plans to work with the United States of America (USA) to unlock investment in the mining sector.

The partnership was made known during a meeting by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, and a delegation of the US government led by Senior Advisor to the US President on Energy and Infrastructure, Amos Hochstein, on the sidelines of the ongoing Investing in Africa Indaba, Cape Town, South Africa.

In a statement, the Special Assistant to the minister, Segun Tomori, stated that Hochstein stressed that the US had a special relationship with Nigeria, thus the interest to work with Nigeria to unlock investments in the mining ecosystem spanning infrastructural development, technical assistance in upscaling mining operations.

The statement reads in part: “Let’s figure out a way between us where we can share whatever you have with our team, then we can work with companies to see what makes sense for the United States to do. We will then look at what the infrastructural needs are to unlock and make those investments more attractive. If you want to build a clean mining sector, you can’t do that without electricity. We are already working with your government on clean energy options for us to finance.”

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In his remarks, Alake lauded US interest in the mining sector, emphasising that as Nigeria’s longstanding ally, a new vista of collaboration for mining development would strengthen bilateral relations and translate to mutual benefits for both countries.

He further said, “We are putting in place reforms to ensure that we have an enabling environment in the sector, different from the experiences we had in the past. I suggest that we form a small joint working group that will fashion out modalities for collaboration and fast-track the flow of information on both sides.”