FG Determined to Promote Value Addition in Mining

The Minister of State forThe Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Honourable Abubakar Bawa Bwari says that the Federal government is determined ays that the Federal government is determined to promote value addition in the mining sector to move the sector to higher level.
Hon. Bawa stated this while receiving in audience a delegation of Chinese foreign investors led by the Chairman of Sino Min Metals Limited, Mr. Paul Kaizer. Hon. Bwari said government is ready to partner and support serious mining investors that are engaged in value addition of mineral products. He said “the principle of this Ministry is any mining company that comes with the concept of value addition will be fully supported”.
The Minister noted that the relationship between Nigeria and China especially in mining is getting stronger by the day. He said in the last six months, he has led three delegations to China, during the 2016 China Mining Conference in Tianjin and the Nigeria/China Mining Investment Roadshow in Beijing, where two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) were signed between Nigeria and Shandong province and between Nigeria and the Ministry of Land Resources, Beijing, China, in the area of exploration and geological sciences.
The Minister commended the delegation for not only indicating interest in investing in the mining of manganese but in adding value to the product by setting up smelting plant to process silicon manganese.
This he said is what the government is canvassing for and he enjoined
them to operate within the laws of the country. Earlier, the leader of the delegation and the Chairman of Sino Min Metals Limited, Paul Kaizer said the delegation was in the Ministry to indicate their interest in partnering with government to promote the production of manganese in the country.
He said their company is into the mining of manganese and located in Kebbi State. The company currently mines manganese and exports it in its raw form but presently have the intention to partner with a Chinese company to set up a smelting plant that will smelt manganese into silicon manganese.
Mr. Kaizer disclosed that the company needs about 100megawatts of power at any given time to operate efficiently and they are in the process of acquiring coal sites in Kogi State to generate power for the company.
The Chairman, Ningxia Jiyuan Metallurgical Group, Mr. M O Junhong, the Chinese partner, said their company is one of the top three in metallurgical in China and currently produces about 450,000 tonnes of manganese in China. He said manganese is in high demand in the steel, cement and building industries. When operational in Nigeria it will generate foreign exchange, create jobs and provide training for man power in the sector, he added.

Rhoda Iliya

Source(http://www.minesandsteel.gov.ng/)