Following the quest for diversification of the Nigerian economy and the huge economic prospects it holds, the Managing Director, Promethean Resources, Mr. Demola Gbadegesin, in this interview expresses optimism that Tin, one of Nigeria’s solid minerals has the potential to serve as a catalyst for its industrialisation. Excerpts

What is Promethean Resources all about, and why did you develop interest to invest in Nigeria’s mining sector? Promethean Resources is a mining company established in 2012, and the company is focused on exploration, exploitation and processing of Tin. Nigeria has abundant resources of Tin.

When we were about establishing the company we were looking for a commodity that Nigeria has a comparative advantage and Tin was one of the ones that stood out well. We have gone quite a long way developing Tin assets around the country, and we are producing high-grade Tin already and exporting.

How long have you been exporting Tin from Nigeria and the tonnes done so far? Actually, we started exporting January 2015, and we have exported 58 tonnes and that is about 10 tonnes per month. The monetary value is about $300, 000.

How much has your company invested since you started operations in 2012 in Nigeria?

We have invested about N2.5billion across our various assets. We have several properties we are developing and by the end of 2015 we will have six operating mines and by then we will be producing five metric tonnes of Tin.

How many mining leases do you have and where are they in the country?

Currently, we are developing six mining locations, we have one at Gurum, Plateau State, where we are now producing from; we have a site in Kogi State, others are Rafin-jaki and Sabon-gida in Plateau State, and then Banke in Kaduna State.

Do you have plans of expanding your operations?

Yes, the company has plans already for expansion. Our immediate plan of expansion is these six sites which we want to be up and running by the end of the year to meet our target of 500 metric tonnes. The initial reason we are focusing on these sites is because we want to first get to the volume that will support the smelter. Then once we have achieved this volume, we now expand to some of the other sites we have.

With the policies of government, are you comfortable with developments in the mining sector?

Yes, a lot of progress has been made, and we have one of the best regulatory in the world because it was modelled after some of the best jurisdictions in the world. Our mining law is modelled after the one in Canada, Peru and Australia. The government is also doing a good work of enforcing the law.

The key thing missing is the investment to follow and actually enter the sector. What we need now are more investors like ourselves to move and take advantage and develop the opportunities with the backing of government. This is an area government should step in to play more aggressive roles by identifying the serious players and boosting them to become champions in different sectors.

What has your company done so far in implementing the Community Development Agreements, CDAs, you have with your host communities?

We entered into CDAs in all the communities in which we operate and always greeted by the communities’ requirement and try not to force anything down the throat of the community. At the same time by doing that we have to be careful by bringing in bulk representation from the community. We have done community roads, we are going to be doing boreholes, donation of transformers, and we have also employed 95 percent of the communities we are operating from.

What is the essence of your company establishing a Tin Smelter plant in Nigeria?

The concept of the Tin smelter is very similar to what you have in oil and gas with a refinery. You can export crude oil which Nigeria does mostly right now or you can produce refined products and use them either locally or export. The Tin smelter will be the same thing as it allows to grow. Instead of the maximum grade we can produce right now is 75 per cent but with the smelter we can go as high to 99.9 percent purity.

Then we can also do the value added products like the Tin solder, which is used in electronics, or Tin chemicals which are used in several application like fuel, tinted glass and solar panels. The idea of the smelter then is number one, capture more value for the country, and number two, serve as catalyst for industrialisation by making possible new industries that does not even exist in Nigeria at the moment.

Can the smelter add value to the country’s economy?

The Tin smelter will benefit the country in several ways and it has massive job creation potential because it occurs where people don’t have other options for employment. It will boost the country’s industrialisation drive, and it will attract electronics assembling industries, like the federal government automotive policy will benefit from it as automotive assembling plants requires Tin products.

It will also boost balance of trade and it plays a key role in the country’s foreign trade, where the foreign exchange earnings are increased as well. In terms of community development our work also plays a key role.