The Federal Government has announced the commencement of operations at a high-purity gold refining plant in Lagos, with three additional gold refineries at different stages of development across the country and a $600m lithium processing plant in Nasarawa State ready for commissioning. The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, disclosed this on Tuesday, saying the projects marked tangible outcomes of the government’s value-addition policy in the mining sector and were repositioning Nigeria as Africa’s leading minerals hub and a strategic global partner in critical minerals for the green energy transition. Alake spoke during a meeting with the Saudi Arabian Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Mr Ibrahim Al-Khorayef, held ahead of the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A statement by the Special Assistant on Media to the minister, Segun Tomori, said the engagement focused on deepening bilateral cooperation in solid minerals development and translating previous discussions into actionable outcomes. According to Alake, the operational Lagos refinery and the forthcoming lithium processing facility underscore the Federal Government’s determination to move Nigeria away from the export of raw minerals to in-country processing and beneficiation.

Punch