Minerals Centre Engages Processing Experts For Local Miners

The Minerals and Miners Centre (MMC), Abuja, has engaged mineral processing experts and machinery manufacturers towards developing local industrial capacity in the solid minerals sector Nigeria.

Our correspondent learnt that this development came at the sidelines of the Minerals and Miners Conference that took place alongside the Mines and Money Event in London recently.

The director of MMC, Dr Comfort Asokoro-Ogaji, during a recent interview said the concept of the MMC is to contribute to the ongoing efforts by other stakeholders to ensure home-based small-scale mining companies and artisanal miners get involved directly in mineral processing operations and get trained in the process through the mentorship and internship programme ongoing for the year.

Dr Asokoro-Ogaji said: “The MMC models are private sector-driven and embrace a sustainable approach to the sector activities through skills transfer from partners and sector experts.

“By the grace of God, MMC will be in China in a few months’ time to execute agreements with machinery manufacturers. The terms are pro-Africa based on our models at MMC.”

According to her, the mentorship and internship programme of MMC is intended to bridge the skills gap in the solid minerals sector.

She went on: “Industrialisation is the fastest way to wealth and global relevance. Mineral beneficiation in-country is a winning approach as against importation of human resources or exportation of natural resources. No country develops by exporting its raw commodities; that’s the gateway to poverty and mediocrity. Export of value added products is a highway to wealth creation and we must continuously look inwards and build capacities in this direction both at leadership level, managerial and operational levels.

“The private sector remains the engine of economic growth as captured in the developmental policies and plans of Nigeria. We are driving the process, riding on the enabling environment provided by the federal government ministries, agencies and the state governments.

The MMC approach is sensitive to social and environmental factors while ensuring economic goals are met for the companies and state governments we are working with.”

The MMC DG disclosed that the companies in question are owned and run by Africans with the support of experts from the United Kingdom and China, in the area of machinery expertise, technical expertise, environmental social and corporate governance standards, and general peer review and advisory services, culminating in commercial scale mineral processing operations.

The overall goal, she said, is to see more Nigerian involvement via employment generation, improved indigenous expertise for mineral processing and understanding global mineral trade dynamics, adding the MMC was working with few committed state governments towards value addition that will improve the sector.