Nigeria and Saudi Arabia are exploring a partnership to extract iron ore and process steel, with discussions held during the Mines and Money Expo in London.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake and Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy, Engr. Khalid bin Saleh Al-Musdaifer, are leading these talks.
The collaboration aims to leverage Nigeria’s iron ore resources for steel production.
Saudi Arabia, with a robust steel industry dependent on imported iron ore from Africa, is now considering Nigeria’s proposal to extract and process iron ore locally.
Alake emphasized that by focusing on beneficiation and steel production in Nigeria, the country could add value to its exports, potentially fetching better prices than raw ore.
Engr. Al-Mudaifer, expressed interest in sourcing iron ore from Nigeria for the country’s steel industry.
He assured Minister Alake that the Saudi government would seriously consider Nigeria’s proposal to domesticate the downstream value chain, potentially focusing on local extraction and beneficiation of iron ore for steel production.
A follow-up meeting between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia is scheduled for Riyadh in January 2025 during the Future Metals Forum.
Dr. Alake also engaged with other investors, including tin manufacturers Woodcross and Gerald Group, as well as fund managers AMG and Business Idea Development from China, to explore further investment opportunities in Nigeria’s mineral sector.
The meeting, organized by the mining investment group Core International, yielded positive results.
Woodcross, represented by directors Mehdi Ali and Hassan Dhanji, confirmed it had conducted a preliminary survey of tin mining in Jos and found sufficient tin ores to support long-term investment in processing.
The company indicated that the findings could meet global demand for tin and promised to make a final investment decision in February 2025.
In response, the minister swiftly established a Ministerial Committee to oversee the start-up of the tin mining project, ensuring adherence to the timeline and providing weekly progress updates.
Meanwhile, the Gerald Group, led by Brendan Lynch (Head of Business Development) and Anya Sarin (Vice President of Communications), shared their research into Nigeria’s tin sector and expressed their interest in pursuing a joint venture.
Dr. Alake urged Woodcross and the Gerald Group to accelerate the start of their tin mining project.
He emphasized the Tinubu administration’s plans to launch the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation, which would act as a dependable joint venture partner for the initiative.
He assigned the task of following up on the project to the Ministerial Committee with a similar mandate.
