TheCable

Olamilekan Asegbite, minister of mines and steel development, says the recently discovered gold deposit along Abuja to Nasarawa axis, would be developed in Nasarawa state.

Adegbite paid Abdullahi Sule, the Nasarawa state governor, a courtesy visit in Abuja on Wednesday.

The minister said the mineral resources were discovered during an integrated mineral exploration project along the Abuja to Nasarawa axis.

“We have done this exploration across the country and we have discovered a very nice track of gold deposit especially between Abuja and Nasarawa where we share borders,” he said.

Adegbite said the NIMEP programme is being executed by the ministry with an investment of about N15 billion for mineral exploration, one of which is gold.

He also said the project has generated geoscience data that has attracted foreign investors about the mining potentials across Nigeria.

In his remarks, Abdullahi Sule, governor of Nasarawa state, lamented about illegal gold mining activities in the state, saying the state is ready to work with the ministry to end the illegal operations.

In response, Adegbite said, the ministry is working with security agencies to ensure that the situation in Zamfara does not repeat itself in Nasarawa.

President Muhammadu Buhari recently banned all mining activities in Zamfara to curb the rising insecurity in the state.