FG Invests $50 Million To Explore Gold, Others- Adegbite

Yemisi Izuora

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, has revealed that the federal government has spent about $50 million to explore gold, lithium and several other metals.

Adegbite told Arab News in an exclusive interview that: “To date we’ve discovered over 44 minerals. These include gold, lithium, copper, cobalt, oxide, you name it”.

Looking forward, the current task for the Nigerian government is to select a few of those minerals and de-risk them for potential investors.

However, while maintaining that the mining sector is very important, the minister indicated that responsible mining and sustainability should be top priorities.

He added that mining, by its very nature, is “disruptive” and, consequently, the environmental impacts on communities should be limited.

Adegbite also emphasized the communal ownership of minerals, saying that the country’s government administer mining but grant its ownership to the community.

“You cannot do your mining without asking the consent of other people, no matter the value of what’s under their seat. I have to ask you in the first place that I want to mine there.”