Nigeria Grants Licenses to Two Gold Refineries

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  The Nigerian government granted licenses to two gold refineries in the country. One of the refineries is located in central Abuja, whereas the other is in the southwestern state of Ogun. No further details were disclosed.

According to Olamilekan Adegbite, Nigeria’s Minister of Mines and Steel Development, the licenses have already been issued. The mines will produce the metal for export and for addition to the central bank gold reserves. The central bank will be the main off-taker of the bullion from the mines, he added.

Recently, the federal government had initiated a process aimed at making the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) buy all the gold from local miners at international price. Also, it had announced a new registration process for artisan miners, which in turn will lead to integration of artisanal and small-scale mining in the country and formalization of the entire market. The new initiative is based on government’s commitment to create support for Nigerian gold miners.

Nigeria had issued gold refining license to local firm Kian Smith Trade & Co in 2018. The refining operations are expected to commence this year.

Nigeria expects ten-fold growth to the country’s mining sector over the next five years. The sector is expected to grow to 3% of GDP by 2025.

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