…as SMDF facilitates 1.5mmetric tonnes per-annum aluminium refinery project

…EMERGE’ll facilitate nation’s mining industry growth – Shinkafi

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – THE Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, Wednesday, assured that the launch of the Early-Stage Mineral Exploration and Research Grant Endowment, EMERGE, Programme is a game-changer for the nation’s solid Minerals sector.

Alake stated this in his speech delivered at the launch of EMERGE in Abuja, where he said the programme was well crafted and strategically positioned to drive geological exploration, support critical minerals development, and fund research including value addition to solid minerals from Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Alake explained that EMERGE basically will focus on three key areas including mineral exploration, critical minerals development, and research and development, adding that the initiative is designed to generate dependable geological data and to ensure Nigeria becomes a major beneficiary of global energy transition, as the Tinubu-led administration is value addition to solid minerals by refining what is mined in the country for maximum revenue generation and profitability by both the public and private sectors.

The Minister disclosed that the Solid Minerals Development Fund, SMDF, has already facilitated a 1.5 million metric tonnes-per-annum aluminium refinery project including other major investments in the solid minerals sector.

He said: “Today, with the launch of this EMERGE, I am very pleased to report that the promise we made two and a half years ago has been kept meticulously and assiduously.

“What we are doing here today is just a continuation of those policies and reforms designed to make Nigeria a concrete and solid foundation on which future generations will build on. Now, in March, that is the early stage, mineral exploration, research, investment, and policy programme, which was launched at this stage.

“It is a great child of the Solid Minerals Development Fund, SMDF, and why this matters, it matters because it works through three different streams. There is the first, which is the exploration stream. This exploration asset, which is the very first one, that’s why it’s called the legacy. Now that forms exploration.

“The critical minerals stream is the second that is in the middle that forms the basis for the minerals that the global energy transition demands, and the processing technologies that let us refine them right here in Nigeria.

“And the third is the research and development stream, which forms the geoscience and mineral processing research that underpins all of this. It is this combination and the critical minerals stream in particular that begins the real domestication of the supply chain, because for the first time, we are funding not only the digging, but the science of telling what we build into finished higher-value products on Nigerian soil. That is the magic.

“This EMERGE that is the acronym for this project, enables us to go through the entire value chain from digging to refining, and of course, to the finished products, all in Nigeria.

“The EMERGE delivered by the Solid Minerals Development Fund fits within a remarkable run of achievement by the fund under this government.”

According to Alake, EMERGE will focus on three key areas: mineral exploration, critical minerals development, and research and development.

He said the programme is designed to generate reliable geological data, promote local mineral processing, and position Nigeria to benefit from the global energy transition.

The minister noted that the government is shifting from a focus on raw mineral extraction to supporting value addition and refining within the country, stressing that grants will also be available for geoscience and mineral-processing research in tertiary institutions.

He disclosed that the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) has already facilitated major investments in the sector, including a 1.5 million metric tonnes-per-annum aluminium refinery project.

However, speaking on the criteria for accessing the grants under EMERGE, he (Alake) assured stakeholders that grant awards would be transparent and merit-based.

“EMERGE will be very transparent and competitive from the beginning to the end. Applications will be assessed strictly on the basis of merit, and the process is independently administered by a team of experts, our programme administrative partners, and this is just to guarantee transparency and accountability at a very high level, high-level play field for every applicant”, he stated.

Meanwhile, earlier, the Executive Secretary, SMDF, Fatima Shinkafi, in her remarks said EMERGE serves as a major component of the solid minerals sector reforms, and is designed to bring in investors, boost geological data, and upscale value addition in the mining sector along with strong support for indigenous industry players.

According to her, EMERGE will facilitate growth of the nation’s mining industry and to place Nigeria in the global mining community as one of the leading mining destinations for critical minerals for global energy transition.

“EMERGE tends in the early stages of the natural exploration and research, the project development facility, advanced project development and construction and production, and initiatives such as aluminum refining and our responsible sourcing to secure land transition, which returns to the corporate chain.

“All together, these are not isolated interventions, but a single, coherent, continuous framework. Each policy building on the ones before it, secondly, improve for value in the sector.

“And all of them are aligned to the same national objective, diversify productive and prosperous economy built on metallic minerals and diversification.”

She further stated that, “We are in a new era where mineral wealth is both shifted to the export again, I think it’s been promoted in Nigeria and I think in Africa as a whole.

“With the launch of EMERGE, we take another deliberate step towards a sector that explores with confidence as value at home and rewards the nation that owns those resources. Data is the new oil. Data is the new oil and data monetization is now the future.”