By Charles Pemu 
Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, yesterday launched an aggressive pitch to global mining investors in London, offering a robust incentive package designed to stimulate local beneficiation and attract capital.
Addressing delegates at the Resourcing Tomorrow Annual Exhibition and Conference, Minister Alake unveiled incentives including a guaranteed seamless transfer of profits, duty waivers on imported mining machinery, and government partnership opportunities. The Minister, who led the Nigerian delegation, declared the country ready for significant investment in its solid minerals sector.
Alake informed participants about Nigeria’s recent success in mineral processing investment, confirming an inflow of over $2 billion into lithium and rare earth ores projects within the last two years. He attributed these Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) to the value addition policy being driven by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, which aims to curb the exportation of raw materials the “pit-to-port” model.
The Minister specified that companies, including Canmax Technologies, Jiuling Lithium, and Avatar New Energy Nigeria Limited, have collectively invested over $1.3 billion in Nigerian lithium processing projects since last year. He highlighted that construction is already underway near Abuja for a $50 million lithium processing plant, intended as the first in a network of industrial clusters spanning Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara, and Ebonyi states. He also noted the recent groundbreaking of the $400 million rare earth plant by the Hasetins group.
To ensure a secure operating environment, Minister Alake stated that the government has established the Mining Marshals to enforce the law and protect miners. This security architecture is being further strengthened with satellite technology for comprehensive tracking of mining operations nationwide.
The Minister concluded by presenting the Nigeria Solid Minerals Company as the government’s partner of choice for joint ventures, assuring global firms that the company leverages mineral assets inherited from the Nigerian Mining Corporation to meet partners’ demands and facilitate business entry.