BY AKUDORO GLORIA
Nigeria and Saudi Arabia have commenced discussions on the extraction and processing of iron ore to accelerate investment and cooperation in the mining sector.
The partnership, in a statement by the Special Adviser to the Minister, Kehinde Bamigbetan, was strengthened on the sidelines of the just concluded Resourcing Tomorrow at the Annual Mines and Money Expo in the London Borough of Islighnton, United Kingdom.
During the meeting, Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake and the Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy of Saudi Arabia, Engr Khalid bin Saleh Al-Musdaifer, discussed plans to extract iron ore and process steel in Nigeria.
Saudi Arabia currently boasts a solid steel industry that relies on importing iron ore from various African countries.
However, Alake pitched for the extraction and beneficiation of iron ore to steel in Nigeria, adding that the value-added exports would attract better prices than raw ores.
Responding, Engr. Al-Mudaifer expressed Saudi Arabia’s interest in sourcing iron ore for its steel industry and assured the Minister that the government would consider Nigeria’s proposal for the domestication of the downstream value chain in the country.
The statement also revealed a follow-up meeting scheduled for Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia, during the Future Metals Forum in January 2025.
The Minister, at the conference also met other investors including tin manufacturers, Woodcross and Gerald Group, Fund Managers AMG and Business Idea Development, China.
Woodcross confirmed that company had carried out a preliminary survey of tin mining in Jos and discovered evidence of sufficient tin ores to justify the long-term investment in processing that could meet current global demands.
Represented by Directors Mehdi Ali and Hassan Dhanji, Woodcross promised to make a final investment decision in February 2025.
According to the statement, the meeting set up by the mining investment group, Core International, yielded positive results.