The country wants to better capitalise on its rich mineral resources
Hard work: Nigeria’s resource-rich regions have long been exploited by illegal mining operations. Image via Mercury Bloomb
Amid the global push for green energy solutions, Nigeria’s reserves of critical minerals such as lithium, manganese and nickel are in high demand, prompting the government to release a series of initiatives that will fast-track foreign direct investment into the sector.
On February 8, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a pan-African multilateral development financial institution, established a partnership with the Nigerian mining sovereign wealth fund, Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF). The partnership aims to accelerate commercial scale, private sector-led mining projects by providing much-needed funding and technical advisory.
Nigeria’s mining sector boasts 44 different types of commercially viable minerals worth an estimated $700bn, according to SMDF estimates; but limited capital injections, inadequate geo-mapping tools and widespread illegal mining have left the west African nation struggling to capitalise on its reserves.
Hajiya Shinkafi, CEO of SMDF tells fDi: “We will target all these minerals and more. Ongoing exploration efforts in Nigeria have identified excellent lithium prospects that we will look to support.”