Minerals Devt Fund seeks govt’s support
Chairman, Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), Linus Adie, yesterday urged the Presidency to fund the SMDF.
He said the development of the mining industry in some economies transcends mere production of geological data. It incorporates preliminary drilling to ascertain what is in the ground, he added.
He said the process requires funding, since mining is an industry that is funded based on anticipated returns.
Adie said: “ I want to state here very clearly that funding is required. This means that it is what you are putting that you will get back. If you fund it properly, you get better profit. At the moment, it is competitive, Niger for example, is better-off than Nigeria today in mining. This is because the government has invested heavily in exploration to an extent that data is sufficiently generated to attract investors.
“These days, government does not depend only on mapping and using just data, it goes to the extent of doing preliminary drilling to show that what is inside the ground is the mineral they are looking for. So unless we take this diversification process seriously we may be in trouble”.
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