THE Federal Government, on Monday, announced its determination to encourage and partner with genuine local and foreign investors, to develop the solid minerals sector in Nigeria.
It also announced, that necessary enabling environment had been provided for the smooth operations of interested investors to develop the sector in the country.
The Minister of State for Solid Minerals Development, Honourable Abubakar Bawa Bwari, made this announcement during a meeting with a Chinese consortium who paid a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja.
Earlier, the leader of the group and Chief Executive Officer, China Polaris Technologies Company Ltd, Mr. Zhang Wendong, said the mission of the group was to indicate its interest in investing in the solid minerals sector in Nigeria.
Wendong, said the consortium was a group of companies with dealings in mining; exploration; financing; provision of technologies; commodity exchange and minerals product beneficiation.
Mr. Wendong solicited the assistance of the ministry to speed up the process of obtaining a production licence and also sought partnership with other licensed companies in the sector.
Wendong, also stated that the group was interested in acquiring the Ajaokuta steel Company, saying it had discovered an iron ore site of high quality that could be explored to provide raw materials for the Ajaokuta Company and other steel processing companies in Nigeria.