Aurelia Mining Company Ltd, a British gold mining firm, will invest $100 million in gold mining and production in Nigeria.
Speaking during a visit to the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc Olamilekan Adegbite, the company’s director, Julian Hammond, said Nigeria’s capacity to be Africa’s powerhouse in gold production is never in doubt. It is the next crude for a country looking to diversify the economy away from oil and gas. Hammond stated that the company has come to key into the country’s abundant mineral potentials.
“The company will commence a small mining operation with 5 to US$10m first,” and if the gold deposit is as big as expected, the company will invest about US$100m for a period of 10 to 15 years, he said.
In his response, the Minister noted that a Canadian firm is already scheduled to start gold exploration in Ogun state in before the ember months. “In the next couple of weeks we will start gold production from Illesha; it was a little bit delayed because of the COVID-19.
The Minister also said that it is the kind of success story Nigeria was looking forward to from Aurelia at the end of the day. He said the aggressive investment driving campaign embarked upon by the ministry in the recent past have started yielding results.
“I was in South Africa, London, Toronto among others, and with all these we were able to convince investors, to say, look, Nigeria is a place to come to,” the Minister concluded. Nigeria’s gold capacity is huge but over the years, previous governments lacked the political will to make it a major revenue earning for the country.
The mining of minerals in Nigeria accounts for only 0.3% of its GDP. Gold Reserves in Nigeria remained unchanged at 21.46 Tonnes in the first quarter of 2021 from 21.46 Tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2020. This is despite the huge deposits and discovery in many parts of the country.
