As a follow-up to last week’s Abuja meeting with the United States Deputy Chief of Mission, David Greene, a working group has been formed to formulate modalities of partnership on mining development.
Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, disclosed this on the sidelines of the ongoing Investing in Africa Indaba, Cape Town, South Africa, when the Nigerian government delegation met with a delegation of the U.S. government, led by Senior Advisor to the U.S. President on Energy and Infrastructure, Amos Hochstein.
In his submission, Hochstein stressed that the U.S. has a special relationship with Nigeria, spanning several decades, cutting across diverse sectors.
He affirmed the interest of the U.S. to work with Nigeria to unlock investments in the mining ecosystem spanning infrastructural development, technical assistance in up-scaling mining operations and investment in the sector.
Hochstein said: “Let’s figure out a way between us, where we can share whatever you have with our team, then we can work with companies to see what makes sense for the U.S. to do.”
We will then look at what the infrastructural needs are to unlock and make those investments more attractive.
“If you want to build a clean mining sector, you can’t do that without electricity. We are already working with your government on clean energy options for us to finance.”
