The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, has called on Nigeria to compete with its contemporaries in developing the critical minerals value chain in the mining industry.
Adegbite made the call yesterday at a summit themed: “Leveraging future minerals for sustainable development,” organised by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and sponsored by SoundCore Group in Abuja.
He argued that Nigeria could not afford to be left out of the global rush to develop its vast deposits of mineral resources, adding that the administration has taken fundamental steps to salvage the low electricity generation by diversifying the country’s energy mix towards renewable alternatives.
Adegbite noted that many nations are aggressively initiating policies and strategic models to ensure accelerated development of critical energy minerals.
He recalled that the U.S. Senate in July passed an Act with incentives for developing critical minerals, while Australia is considering investment packages to stimulate exploration, as well as mining and processing of these minerals.
He said China has also stepped up imports from developing nations to bolster critical minerals stockpiles, adding that the growing demand for critical minerals is being propelled by the urgent need to secure a low-carbon future.
“Countries are increasingly relying on rare earth elements and critical minerals to support their climate commitments,” he said.
Adegbite said the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change emphasised the need to end the use of non-renewable components in energy generation.
He said renewable sources of energy provided an alternative to the energy transition economy.
“The consequence of this major shift is a high demand for critical minerals for use in climate-friendly technologies. The World Bank has estimated the demand for these minerals to triple by 2040.
“Undoubtedly, the deployment of critical minerals for a clean energy transition will remain significantly intensive for a long time,” Adegbite said.
He said electric vehicles and battery storage will account for about half of the energy minerals demand over the next two decades, spurred by the increasing demand for battery materials.
Countries are increasingly relying on rare earth elements and critical minerals to support their climate commitments.
He said battery storage minerals primarily comprised copper, cobalt, lithium, nickel, platinum group minerals, and to a lesser extent, aluminum, chromium, graphite, manganese, rare earth elements and Zinc.
He said minerals demand from electric vehicles and battery storage was predicted to grow 10 to 30 times by 2040.
“Nigeria is richly endowed with critical minerals. Lithium and tantalite are found in parts of the extensive pegmatite belts of Nigeria,” he said.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Mine, Steel Development and Metallurgy, Tanko Almakura, said the future of the Nigerian extractive industry is predicted to be heavily skewed towards solid minerals.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), SoundCore Group, Tony Nwakalor, said the mining sector remained a veritable avenue for Nigeria to wean itself off crude oil.
He said the sector also provides a reliable source of employment for teeming unemployed youth, who could develop their skills formally and informally.
Nwakalor said the summit will serve as a trigger to initiate the mineral and mining revolution in the country. (NAN)
