The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development says private investors have expressed their readiness to commit about 3.32 billion dollars to fund some projects in the mining sector.
Alhaji Abubakar Bwari, the Minister of State, made this known at the Third Nigeria Mining Week on Tuesday in Abuja.
The three-day event is being organised by the Miners Association of Nigeria in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Spintelligent.
According to Bwari, the fund will be used to fund gold mining and refining, foundry works, lead/zinc exploration and production, tin, tantalite and columbite mining and processing.
The minister of state said that the ministry was making effort to focus on tackling challenges hindering the formal exploitation of gold, tin and lead-zinc as well stop indiscriminate exports of these mineral commodities to foreign smelters.
Bwari said that the ministry had also developed a new Export Guidelines for the Export of Mineral Commodities to ease challenges in the granting of export permits and other licensing issues.
