US to Assist Nigeria with Solid Mineral Deposits

The Federal Government has sought the assistance of the United States to determine the quality and quantity of solid minerals deposits available in the country.

Pursuant to this, the United States Geological Survey and its Nigerian counterpart will next week commence strategic engagements aimed at working out suitable technical partnership between the two countries.

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, disclosed these at a meeting they had in Abuja on Thursday, according to a statement issued by Special Assistant to the Minister on Media, Mr. Olayinka Oyebode.

Fayemi said some of the issues confronting the Nigerian mining sector included the quality of the available data to determine the size of what the country had, and how the country could use bankable data to attract potential investors.

The Federal Government, he said, had approached the US to assist Nigeria in this area in order to determine the quality and quantity of the various minerals available considering the wealth of experience of the US Geological Survey.

He said the experience of the American institution would help Nigeria to improve on what it had in terms of its huge minerals deposits.