Edo State commissioner of Mining and Energy (Oil Gas and Power), Hon Enaholo Ojiefoh, yesterday hinted that plans are underway by the state government to maximise abandoned solid minerals and other economic potentials in the state.
Ojiefoh, who spoke at an interactive session with newsmen in Benin, said the large deposit of coal, lithium and dolomite alone in different parts of the state could become a multi-billion-dollar source of additional revenue for the state noting that plans were in top gear to achieve that.
He disclosed that to achieve its laudable ideals, the government created three new units in the ministry viz Investment, Research and Power.
“For coal alone, we have four million metric tonnes deposit in just two local government areas within the Owan axis of Edo North. If we are able to harness it, it is going to run into billions of dollars for us because at the moment, it is about $25,000 per metric tonne. Multiply that by 1000 metric tonnes; you can guess what we are talking about. For Lithium, annually, it is over $200 billion if properly harnessed; for gold, it is more than that and the same thing goes with dolomite.
He also stated that the ministry now has a database of all investments, opportunities and stakeholders and every other thing about the ministry which can be easily accessed.
“At a click, you will know what is happening in the oil and gas sector in the state. That means just at a click you can see all the filling stations you have in the state; the number of mining companies you have in the state. Everything that concerns the ministry, you’d just see it in our database. We are just waiting for some data to add up so that we can launch the database,” he said.
He added that the weekly market report on solid minerals in the state is to avail the people to know the market value of the mineral prices in the state adding that it is the first of its kind in Nigeria.
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