The highest revenue of N84.6 million was in June

The Director-General, Nigerian Mining Cadastre, Mohammed Amate, said the office generated N523.8million for issuing mining titles between January and September.

Mr. Amate disclosed this at a media roundtable on The Review of Roadmap for Development of Minerals and Metals Sector organised by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in Abuja on Monday.

He said the office had the highest revenue of N84.6 million in June, while only N34.5 million was generated in May.

Mr. Amate added that 1,858 applications were received between January and September while 1,179 were approved for various mineral titles.

He said lack of adequate documentation to accompany applications, companies carrying out activities their licences did not cover, and consent from host communities were some challenges facing the office.

Utsu Adie, the Chairman of Solid Minerals Development Fund, said the Board had facilitated the grant of $2 million (N320 million) from Australian and Canadian Governments for analytical evaluation of the sector.

“The grant will be used to prepare strategic infrastructure corridors in the mining sector, capacity building in artisanal and small scale mining.

“Others are the general governance of the sector and review of business models for running the geosciences research laboratory in Kaduna’’, he said.

The chairman said the organisation would design a programme for developing the technical capacities of lending institutions to appreciate appropriate lending facilities in the mineral development chain, evaluate and monitor projects.

“The operators will be provided with outreach programmes to develop skills in business planning, preparation of bankable feasibility studies and financial management of mining projects,” he said.

He added that lack of access to credit and financing was a major limitation to facilitating mining projects in Nigeria.

“This is largely due to lack of knowledge of the mining industry and the intricacies of borrowing funds from banks,” he said.

(NAN)