Aerial view of gold mining activities in Zamfara state
The Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) has partnered with the Ores Reserves Development Forum (ORDF) to develop a mining finance framework addressing miners’ funding difficulties.
ORDF is an initiative that evolved from roundtable discussions on mining finance held by the Geological Society of Nigeria with the aim of addressing the significant challenges miners face in accessing funding.
In a statement on Monday, Fatima Shinkafi, the SMDF executive director, said financing has been identified as a major challenge affecting the mining sector due to limited investor confidence in geological and project data.
Shinkafi, represented by Abdulmajeed Amussah, her technical adviser, said SMDF and ORDF are partnering to organise a workshop for stakeholders, including miners, financial institutions, and industry experts, as part of efforts to tackle the challenge.
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The workshop, ‘Building a Sustainable Mining Finance System for Nigeria,’ is scheduled to take place on December 9.
The executive director said at the end of the workshop, a draft mining finance framework will be developed, then reviewed and refined by a technical working group representing key institutions across the mining value chain.
She said the workshop is expected to identify key constraints limiting mining finance in Nigeria and enhance understanding of financial institutions’ role in the sector.
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Shinkafi added that the workshop will provide recommendations for incentives to mitigate risks for miners and investors, including agreeing on standard reporting systems and frameworks to guide next steps.
On his part, Uba Malami, chairman of ORDF, said the mining sector has the potential to contribute significantly to Nigeria’s economic growth, but noted that harnessing its full potential requires concerted efforts.
“However, many promising projects fail to attract funding because investors do not fully trust available data,” Malami said.
Malami added that the workshop will enable stakeholders to work together to build a transparent and reliable system that supports investment and long-term sector development.
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