The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, says Nigeria has comprehensive data on its lithium reserves available at the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency for investors to peruse.

The minister disclosed this in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday at a meeting with Qatari businessmen on the sidelines of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s visit to the Arab country.

In a statement by his special adviser, Kehinde Bamigbetan, Mr Alake said mineral exploration initiated by the federal government identified locations with lithium deposits in commercial quantities.

He said the information was available to help Qatar businessmen interested in establishing lithium companies in Nigeria.

The minister was responding to enquiries on the quality of Nigerian lithium by Qatari business mogul Sheikh Shahid Jawad at the meeting held at the prestigious Sheraton, Doha.

Stressing the quality of lithium in Nigeria, he recalled a visit to Australia where samples of rock composites from Nigeria, after laboratory analysis, confirmed the presence of high-grade lithium content.

“It shows that the quality of Nigerian lithium has been recognised by the global mining sector,“ he said.

Mr Alake said the Nigerian government had implemented generous, investor-friendly policies to facilitate businesses.

Also speaking at the event, the executive secretary of the Solid Minerals Development Fund, Fatimah Shinkafi, urged investors to explore opportunities in mining infrastructure.

Giving the example of Vale, a mining company in Brazil that invested in trains to ease the transportation of minerals from the mines to the processing towns, Ms Shinkafi said the government would continue to provide transportation facilities to the mines.

The Qatar-Nigerian Chamber of Business vice-chairman, Muhammed Santuraki, said the chamber was formed in 2017 to build business relations between both countries.

Recalling a recent visit to a gold mine in Nasarawa, Mr Santuraki observed the existence of good roads for haulage minerals to the ports.

Other businessmen at the top-level meeting were Sheikh El Jouneid, chief executive officer of ETCC Qatar and Aminu Dahiru, chairman of Asdub Oil & Gas.

Five states, Nassarawa, Kogi, Kwara, Ekiti, and Cross River, are mining lithium, with more states, such as Bauchi, have reported discovering deposits.

The minister is part of the delegation that accompanied Mr Tinubu on the visit to Doha, Qatar, to strengthen cooperation between the nations in several sectors, including economic development. 

(NAN)