Minerals Development : MAN Harps On Profiling Of Lease Holders

Miners Association of Nigeria, the MAN, says there is a need to profile all existing leaseholders hosting critical minerals across the country.

National Publicity Secretary of MAN, Mr. Fatai Jimoh stated this in Abuja while reacting to the minister of solid minerals development, Dr. Oladele Alake’s speech during the just concluded United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he focused on repositioning Nigeria as a global supplier of critical Minerals in the world.

Mr. Jimoh emphasized that to achieve that, there must be adequate training for all legal miners in Nigeria.

“There is a need to profile all the existing leaseholders hosting these critical minerals and adequate training provided for them by collaborating with the Miners Association of Nigeria being the umbrella of all legal miners in Nigeria” he added.

“On execution of this strategic vision, it is critical for improved collaboration between the government regulatory agency and the Miners Association of Nigeria, so we can achieve all the desired results”.

The MAN spokesman also called for the constitution of a committee to reposition Nigeria as a Global Supplier of Critical Minerals stressing that members should consist of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, the Mining Cadastre office, Nigeria Geological Survey Agency and the Miners Association of Nigeria among others to be set up.

“This committee will drive home the path to success on this vision, then at offtake, the big multinationals can then be merged with other existing Nigerian investors and this will catapult the Nigeria solid Minerals sub-sector to the next level” Mr. Jimoh stated.

“The fact that Nigeria has critical Minerals like Lithium, Lead/Zinc, tantalite, Antimony, Galena, Gold, and fluorspar among others availability in commercial quantities in Nigeria is no longer in doubt. Most areas where all these minerals occur are also under the license of indigenous miners who are committed to improved productivity but are handicapped due to limited finance amongst other limitations” Mr Jimoh stressed.

By Georgina Humphrey Edited By Grace Namiji