Stakeholders Meet In Abuja To Develop New Mining Finance Framework

The Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) and the Ore Reserves Development Forum (ORDF) have scheduled a high-level workshop on December 9, 2025, in Abuja aimed at developing a sustainable mining finance framework for Nigeria.

The one-day event, scheduled to be held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, will bring together miners, financial institutions, regulators and government agencies to address persistent barriers to investment in the solid minerals sector.

In a statement announcing the workshop, technical adviser to the SMDF executive secretary, Abdulmajeed Amussah, said the session was designed to tackle one of the industry’s most enduring challenges: the difficulty miners face in obtaining financing due to limited investor confidence, weak geological data and inadequate project transparency.

He said the forum would strengthen the link between geological reporting, transparency and access to finance, enabling stakeholders to align on standards that support bankable mining projects.
ORDF chairman, Uba Saidu Malami, stressed the urgency of building trust and credibility in the sector’s data systems, noting that the absence of reliable information continues to hold back investment.

He said :“The mining sector can make significant contributions to Nigeria’s economic growth,” he said.

“However, many promising projects fail to attract funding because investors do not fully trust available data. This workshop will enable stakeholders to work together to build a transparent and reliable system that supports investment and long-term sector development.”

The statement noted that participants would examine mineral reporting standards, financing corridors from exploration to production, policy and regulatory incentives, and options for designing a practical mining finance system that can support Nigeria’s industrial development ambitions.

It said that at the close of the meeting, delegates are expected to produce a draft mining finance framework to be reviewed and refined by a technical working group drawn from across the mining value chain.

According to the statement, the Ore Reserves Development Forum (ORDF) itself emerged from the Geological Society of Nigeria’s Roundtable 2.0, which convened technical, financial, regulatory and policy experts to address gaps in ore reserve classification, technical capacity and structured financing.

The roundtable underscored the need for a robust, collaborative and multisectoral approach anchored on sound industrial policy and sustainable investment practices.

A wide range of stakeholders are expected at the Abuja workshop, including the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake; the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun; the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission; the Executive Secretary of the SMDF; the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange; the Managing Director of NEXIM Bank; the Miners Association of Nigeria; the Nigerian Export Promotion Council; the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority; the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency; the Nigeria Economic Summit Group; and representatives of National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Manufacturing and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COMEG); Nigerian Society of Economic Geologists, and several other industry bodies, financial institutions and diplomatic missions.