Seven firms licensed to mine gold and other solid minerals
in different parts of Nigeria are set to commence operation, an official has
said.
The Director-General of the Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office,
Mohammed Amate, said the seven mining firms were at the moment mobilising the
required financing from the capital market to undertake full-scale gold, coal,
iron-ore and lead/zinc mining this year.
Apart from Dangote Group, the other six firms include Kogi
Mines Limited, Segilola Nigeria Limited, Mines Geotechniques Nigeria Limited,
Northern Numero Resources Limited, West African Polaris Investment Limited and
Tongyi Allied and Mineral Services Limited.
Kogi Mines, which is an an Australian mining firm, would
mine iron ore at Agbaja area of Kogi State, while Segilola Nigeria Limited
would mine gold at the Iperindo axis of the IIesha gold schist belt in Osun
State.
Similarly, Geotechniques Nigeria Limited and Northern Numero
Resources Limited, which are both Australian companies, would mine gold in
Kebbi State, while Dangote Group would mine coal in Kogi and Benue states.
The West African Polaris Investment Limited, which a Chinese
firm, would mine tin and columbite in Nasarawa State and the Tongyi Allied and
Mineral Services Limited, another Chinese company, would mine lead/zinc in
Wasa, Plateau State.
Mr. Amate said in view of the capital intensive nature of
projects in the the solid minerals sector, the firms were determined toexplore
whatever opportunities are there in the capital market to help raise the funding
needed for their mining activity.
The firms, which the Director General said have since
obtained the relevant mining licences to mine gold and other minerals in the
country, have completed their exploration mapping programmes to delineate the
mineral deposits prior to the actual commencement of mining operations.
The commencement of the mining programme by the firms, he
explained, had to be delayed till now as no financial institution was ready to
commit funding to the development of mining sector until adequate bankable
feasibility studies were carried out under the auspices of the internationally
recognised Joint Ore Reserve Committee specifications.
