Small-scale miners call for funding, increased investment

Small-scale and artisanal miners want more money to rejig the solid minerals sector.
“We need the injection of N2 trillion over the next 30 years. We also want 5 percent of the national budget devoted to mining each year,” said Shehu Sani, president, Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN), told BusinessDay.
“The major challenge we have is funding. As part of the rejuvenation efforts, the Ministry of Solid Minerals and the BoI launched a N5 billion soft loan for artisanal miners. We want to appeal to BoI to structure a friendly modality that will enable miners to access the facility,” Sani said.
He urged government to attract private capital to mining as well as funds from the World Bank, the European Union, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other international partners.
“We need big pocket investors. The central area in mining is exploration and it simply means search. While searching, you can either get or not. You may get what is not up to your expectations. This is why we need multinational miners with funds to do exploration,” he said.
He stated that miners are looking at exporting bulky minerals through the waterways, adding the sector needs new technology and better infrastructure to move products.

Nigeria has 44 identified solid minerals, but fewer than 15 are being mined, processed and marketed.
Some of the minerals found in the country include kaolin, baryte, limestone, dolomite, feldspar, glass sand, ganstones, gold, iron ore, lead-zinc, tin (and its associated minerals), and gypsum.

ODINAKA ANUDU